Last February, when agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
launched their raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, 10
journalists from the town's two media outlets were on hand to record the event.

In fact, they had been waiting close to the compound for more than two hours for
the raid to begin. They may have had very good informants, but they had poor
judgment.

The operation was supposed to be top-secret.

Four agents were killed and 20 injured during the Feb. 28 raid, during which the
ATF tried to arrest Branch Davidian leader David Koresh on weapons charges. An
ambush by cult members led to a 51-day stand-off with federal agents that ended
in April with a fire that killed more than 80 Branch Davidians.

"The question this raises for me is what kind of responsibility does the press
have in these kind of situations?" said journalism professor Ed Guthman.

Guthman, along with Los Angeles police chief Willie Williams and former justice
department attorney and chief Watergate prosecutor Henry Ruth Jr. spent four
months analyzing the federal investigation into the raid. The investigation,
ordered by President Clinton, was carried out under the authority of Treasury
secretary Lloyd Bentsen.

"What happened in Waco raises a real problem that has not been given a lot of
attention, and that's the role of the press," said Guthman. "The incident
illustrates that the press has got to start disciplining itself and accept that
it has a responsibility not to jeopardize a law-enforcement activity."



It was a television cameraman who inadvertently tipped off Koresh that the ATF
was closing in.

The cameraman learned about the ATF's plans from a station employee, who had
heard the news from his friend, a dispatcher for a local ambulance service that
the bureau had contracted to stand- by.

The day of the raid, the cameraman stopped a mail carrier and asked for
directions to the compound, explaining the ATF was planning to strike. The mail
carrier turned out to be a cult member, and he immediately raised the alarm.

An ATF agent who was inside the compound when Koresh got the tip-off telephoned
his supervisors to let them know the word was out. Even so, the ATF supervisors
ordered the raid to go ahead as planned.

By this point, Waco's media outlets were fully aware of the plans. "There were
television and newspaper reporters prowling around waiting for something to
happen two hours before the raid," said Guthman. "There is only one newspaper and
one television station in Waco. But what if this had happened in a larger market,
like Los Angeles or New York? Would you end up with hundreds of reporters
hovering around an area?"

One way that the media could act responsibly and still get the story, said
Guthman, would be to form a pool and place only one photographer or reporter on
location. The journalist would then brief his or her colleagues about the event
or provide outlets with photos or footage.

"Curbing press activities in some cases would have nothing to do with the
people's right to know. The idea of journalists hovering around waiting for
something to happen is not acceptable. It jeopardizes the enforcement of the law,
as well as people's lives."

A team of 30 investigators from the Internal Revenue Service, the Secret Service
and the U.S. Customs Service, along with six experts in tactical law enforcement
operations, spent four months interviewing more than 300 people involved in the
Waco operation. Members of the team then met periodically with Guthman, Ruth and
Williams -- who were brought in on a pro-bono basis to provide an independent
analysis of the investigation -- to review the materials and prepare a report.

The 528-page report was presented to President Clinton on Sept. 30.

"All of us involved in the report were satisfied that it was a very good and
productive exercise," said Guthman. "It is so valuable to look at a tactical
operation and go back over it and learn from it. I believe this report will help
prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future, and I think that every
law-enforcement agency could benefit from using this report."

The agents working within the ATF were particularly supportive of the report, he
added.

"The report had the backing of the ATF agents, who, after all, are the ones who
carry the burden -- they're the ones who themselves could very well be shot the
next time. They wanted to know what went wrong and what could have been done
differently."

Key findings from the report include:

* The ATF did not adequately explore the possibility of arresting Koresh away
from the compound.

* The raid commanders did not have the necessary tactical training and experience
to mount an operation like the Waco raid, which involved more than 100 agents.

* Raid commanders knew they had lost the element of surprise before the raid
began and should not have continued with the mission.

"My guess is that all federal agents involved in future incidents will have
crisis-management training and SWAT training, and that they will never again put
people in command who do not have this training."



Guthman was editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer when, in 1985, the paper
supported an investigation into the law- enforcement activities surrounding a
raid on the Philadelphia headquarters of the radical sect MOVE.

Eleven people died when Philadelphia police bombed MOVE's headquarters. Fire
caused by the explosion destroyed two city blocks and left 270 homeless.

Ruth was a member of the special commission investigating the incident and Ronald
K. Noble, currently the assistant Treasury secretary for enforcement, was an
assistant U.S. attorney in Philadelphia at the time. It was Noble who asked
Guthman to work on the Waco report.

On Tuesday, Guthman will receive a Distinguished Achievement in Journalism Award
at the 33rd annual USC Journalism Alumni Association Annual Awards Banquet. The
banquet, which will be hosted by Walter Cronkite, also will honor television news
anchor Diane Sawyer.

[Photo:] A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent embraces a fallen
comrade during the ill-fated Feb. 28 raid on the Branch Davidian compound outside
Waco, Texas. The raid failed in large part because media had inadvertently tipped
off cultists hours earlier. Four agents were killed and 20 were injured.

[Photo:] After the raid, journalists camped outside the compound for the duration
of the 51-day standoff. Ed Guthman: "The idea of journalists hovering around
waiting for something to happen is not acceptable. It jeopardizes the enforcement
of the law, as well as people's lives."

[Photo: Ed Guthman]