Government Informant: Delta Force Involved In Waco Shoot-Out

**World Exclusive**
**Must Credit DRUDGE REPORT**

September 6, 1999

WASHINGTON--A former government officer has told investigators that members of the secret Army unit Delta Force said they participated in a shoot-out during the final assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The witness, according to congressional sources, has already named names; and will soon offer his account under oath!

The development caused panic and confusion at the top levels of the Justice Department and the FBI over the holiday weekend, leaving one top official scrambling for details.

FBI Director Freeh has demanded a full briefing, one agency source divulged late Monday.

Developing...

Meanwhile, congressional investigators are growing convinced that infrared film taken by an FBI surveillance aircraft at 9,000 feet on the final day of the Waco standoff does appear to show U.S. armed forces firing into the church compound.

"We are looking at the footage frame-by-frame... most of us have grown convinced that it does show snipers unloading from the rear of a tank," an investigator for the House Government Reform Committee told the DRUDGE REPORT.

Former FBI agent Richard Schwein, a supervisor at Waco, said charges of government gunfire were "absolutely false."

"False, absolutely false," he said on FOX NEWS SUNDAY. "No FBI agent fired any rounds from their weapons at Waco. There were no Delta Forces or special operations soldiers in an operational capacity at Waco." "And everyone on our side, and the FBI's side, were in armored vehicles, so I don't know how you'd have films of anybody firing into the back of the building. No one was on foot, because we had no body armor that would stop the rounds they were firing."

WAIVER WONDER

Use of active military personnel against civilians without presidential decree is a violation of federal law.

Late last month White House spokesman Joe Lockhart first told reporters that he had no information on the waiver issue.

[August 26, 1999; Thursday]

Q Joe, why was the Army's Delta Force present on the scene the day that Waco burned?

MR. LOCKHART: I would refer you to the Justice Department. I don't have information on the Delta Force one way or the other.

Q The reason I asked is because since the law prohibits the military being used against civilians, I wondered whether the White House either, A, requested it or, B, President Clinton signed a waiver for it.

MR. LOCKHART: I don't have any information on that. Again, I'd refer you to Justice. I don't have any independent information on their role, if any.

The next day, when asked again about any possible waiver, Lockhart offered more details.

[August 27, 1999; Friday]

Q What did the White House know about the potential operational involvement of Delta Force in the Waco siege?

MR. LOCKHART: I think that's an issue that was dealt with at the time. And as we said yesterday, the president was not asked to sign a waiver, nor were we aware of any activity that would have required a waiver. But, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, Lockhart may still not have the full story.

One witness has told congressional investigators that in April of 1993, in response to a press inquiry, a White House spokesman stated privately that a "waiver is on the president's desk that would have authorized military intervention.

A development that will cause battle during fresh rounds of congressional hearings.

FILED BY MATT DRUDGE