Word: atf
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...choosing the targets of its investigations, the ATF relies heavily on tips from local police. In March 1991 the Cleveland office of ATF got a call from Sheriff Shawber, who had come to suspect, erroneously, that out-of-towners were buying machine guns from Louis Katona's father, Louis Katona Jr., a licensed dealer, and then listing false local addresses on their registration forms...
PERHAPS THE HARSHEST CRITIC OF THE ATF'S WACO RAID was the bureau's own master, the Treasury Department. In the raid's aftermath, the department launched an investigation by veteran agents from its other law-enforcement agencies, backed up by independent outside reviewers, including Willie Williams, the Los Angeles chief of police. The result was a 500-page indictment that pulled no punches yet whose details, surprisingly, went largely unreported. The Blue Book, as it is known, portrayed a dark carnival of ATF errors. Among them...
...ATF established an undercover house adjacent to the compound and installed eight agents there under the guise of students at Texas State Technical College. But they were too old to be convincing. They carried briefcases and drove cars too new and expensive for students to afford. Raid planners gravely underestimated David Koresh's savvy and suspicion--the review team discovered that Koresh had had checks run on the cars and found that three of the four had no credit liens outstanding...
...raid planners had chosen a direct assault in part because they believed Koresh never left the Branch Davidian compound, and thus could never be isolated from his followers. But Koresh did leave the compound--several times in late 1992 and only weeks before the February 1993 raid. ATF just never knew it. The report blamed this on its "failure to establish an effective intelligence operation...
...Faulty intelligence also led ATF to believe the Branch Davidians kept their guns under lock and key in a central location. In fact, the guns were distributed and readily available. Likewise, ATF agents responsible for surveillance reported the compound had no sentries...