Jon Kinsler
Dr. Burnham
Research presentation part 1
In the first few weeks of the class I have decided on my topic of the WACO, Texas
standoff in 1993. The standoff is between a group of religious extremist led by one named
David Koresh. Koresh had a belief system that many people did not understand and still do not
until this day. When it came to his religion Koresh had a mind not seen very often, basically
believing that he had the second coming of Jesus Christ all figured out and knew exactly how he
would be a part of it. Although his style was very weird he amassed a decent following including
multiple families. One of the biggest parts of this entire story will involve children in which
there were a lot of them. Many of these children in fact come from Koresh himself as it was
part of his beliefs. All of the people involved in this cult lived within a compound called Mt.
Carmel located just outside of Waco near Axtell, Texas. The name of the compound actually
comes from a part in the bible and thus further shows the correlation between the group and
their religious drive. Wondering why in the world might a religious group in a compound be
attacked by the FBI, ATF and law enforcement can be a large question and it was for many
people. The truth behind will be explained once I have done more research but to start we do
know that the Branch Davidians were supposedly involved in a large illegal firearm and tobacco
trade. 1
1
“H. Rept. 104-749 - Investigation into the Activities of Federal Law Enforcement Agencies toward the Branch
Davidians.” Accessed February 28, 2021. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/104th-congress/housereport/749/1.
Through further research into my few starting sources I have been able to locate some
surefire spots of interest behind doors in government buildings. One of my main focuses early
on in this paper was to dig into the communication between the different government bodies
on site and spread across the nation that had a hand in this stand off. I have found some
evidence of miscommunication, a clear action to disobey orders as well as a large pride from
different government intenties that led to foul play. Ill start with the miscommunications, one
of the big problems ive seen so far with this whole event was the introduction of a new
Attorney General, Jenet Reno.2 Reno came into the standoff half-way through and this in fact
can provide so many new challenges, the feeling to push harder to finish the job as well as
overlooking what has already been done to force across her plans. Wouldn’t you know this is
precicely what happened, there was miscommunication between government agencies such as
miscounts of personell on site, a lack of information given about the types of rounds being fired
into the compound and all of this eventually leading to a disastrous ending to the standoff as
well as complete misinformation given to the citizens of America. Introducing someone new
into a spot with such importance as an attorney general allowed for so many flaws in the plans
and actions the were present in Waco just as if a boss up and left their job leaving employees to
figure it out during the busiest time.
To give a little bit more information on some of my other research efforts I have also
poured some time into some of the reasons why the government chose to use such a
dangerous form of negotiation toward the end of the stand off. What ive found so far in a small
2
“H. Rept. 106-1037 - the Tragedy AT WACO: New Evidence Examined.” Accessed March 1, 2021.
https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/106th-congress/house-report/1037/1.
portion of the evidence comes from the stand offs nature itself. With the fact that one of the
parties involved being a religious driven group I thought maybe they should be somewhat
understanding or workable. I was wrong in this though, many of the people living in the
compound did in fact want the madness to end. The problem stems from the fact that the
majority of control rested in the hands of one man and this man was aggressive. Koresh had a
mass of control over strong members in the group and controlled every move made. This made
any kind of negotiating very lengthy and hostile. In many conversations between agents on site
to partners elsewhere, in these conversations we see frustration from failed attempts to
penetrate the compound.3 Before the tear gas was deployed that ultimately ended the fighting
there were multiple attempts to penetrate the roof with smaller rounds and less harmful
supplies. After going through those options many times the forces on sight seemed to settle for
the more dangerous approach to get the job done.
As I move further I would like to find out more about the conversations between the
people on site and the new Attorney General about their tear gas plan. I would also like to dive
deeper into the failed communications on personell and the misinformed interview the
attorney general gave to the house. My next plan of attack at sourcing is to study more about
the leader David Koresh as he plays possibly the biggest role into how the events played out.
3
“H. Rept. 106-1037 - the Tragedy AT WACO: New Evidence Examined.” Accessed March 1, 2021.
https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/106th-congress/house-report/1037/1.