Experts Criticize Tactics Used by Federal Officials in Assault : Standoff: Some assail ATF’s decision to storm the compound, in view of the size of cult’s arsenal. Others decry the lack of a medical evacuation plan.

Law enforcement and tactical experts across the country on Wednesday expressed dismay over the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ handling of a Sunday confrontation with a messianic cult that left four federal agents and at least two cult members dead.

Some harshly criticized the ATF decision to storm the Branch Davidians’ 77-acre compound--rather than attempt to negotiate--despite the apparent size of the cult’s arsenal, the members’ resolve to use the weapons and the presence of a large number of children on the grounds.

Others wondered how an agency whose prime interest is weaponry and explosives and which had the religious sect under surveillance for nearly a year apparently failed to adequately plan for medical evacuations in the event of a violent confrontation.

There were also defenders of the ATF, who noted the courage of the agents and urged that second-guessing be put off until the crisis is finally resolved. But the tactics used in the assault are clearly a matter of dispute in the nation’s law enforcement community.

“On the assumption these people were a violent sect it had to be calculated that they would have an apocalyptic view of the world around them; that they were living in the last days and would resist to the death,” said Tony Cooper, a law enforcement consultant who teaches courses in terrorism, negotiation and conflict resolution at the University of Texas at Dallas.

“What is incomprehensible to me is that they knew these people had an illegal cache of weapons and that they thought these weapons would not be fired,” Cooper said. “To enter a room where they believed these weapons were kept and not know that there were people in adjoining rooms who would shoot at them through the walls is criminal because it caused deaths.”

Federal ATF officials believe that the operation--carried out after nine months of planning--was compromised when cult members were tipped off about the impending raid on Sunday to serve arrest and search warrants charging Branch Davidian leader David Koresh with federal firearms violations.

Dan Hartnett, associate director of ATF, said at a news conference Wednesday that “when we went inside this compound the element of surprise was essential. We were halfway into the location when they opened fire . . . firing started coming in through the walls. We had to wait for a target because there were so many women and children that were usually at prayers during that time.”

Col. Charles Beckwith, the founding commander of the Army’s elite Delta Force, charged Wednesday that the ATF “didn’t have a good plan. It’s a disgrace to this country.”

“They did not know what the capabilities of the force inside the compound was, or what the adversary was capable of doing,” said Beckwith, who sent a letter to the White House on Monday expressing his concerns. “It also took 1 hour and 40 minutes to medevac the wounded agents--that also tells me they didn’t know what the hell they were doing.”

Frank Bolz Jr., former hostage negotiator and 28-year veteran of the New York Police Department, said: “I’m concerned that once you know you have children in there you don’t go storming in as you would in a barricade situation.

“When this is all over and they bring that dead child out of there,” Bolz said, “startling photographs of that child’s face will overshadow the deaths of heroic agents.”

However, many law enforcement authorities were reluctant to discuss the four-day standoff between over 100 cult members still believed to be inside the compound and a small army of 450 heavily armed agents surrounding the place.

“I’m not going to comment on an ongoing situation,” said John Colman of the National Tactical Officers Assn. “I’m sure they were doing what they thought was proper.”

Travis Kuykendall, special agent in charge at the Drug Enforcement Agency office in El Paso, said: “It is very unfair for anybody to second-guess what happened on Sunday if they weren’t there.”

“It’s a horrible thing that’s happened,” Kuykendall said. “We are still in shock and mourning over the loss of the officers.”

But Hubert Williams, president of the Police Foundation, a national group formed to advise police departments, said the Waco incident has raised a serious question: “Could things have been done differently?

“You have deaths and a standoff--not good,” Williams said. “I think all Americans are concerned about the deaths and injuries, particularly about the fact that children have died.”

Don Casimere, president of the International Assn. for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, added: “You can always storm a place, but once you have casualties, you can’t bring them back.

“It seems to me there was a flaw in that officers did not know what they were going up against,” Casimere said. “Now, we’ve got to offer some answers to the families of the people who were killed and the people across the nation who witnessed this.”

Cooper argued that “if as a tactical matter they were relying on the element of surprise, once they realized they had lost it they should have aborted.”

Beyond that, “there is no law enforcement agency in this country equipped to fight war and it is not proper that they should be,” Cooper said. “Yet, this was a military-style operation and it was inappropriate to have carried it out without taking into account the possibility of casualties, or without making arrangements for the immediate evacuation of these people in the face of enemy fire.”