Fbi Comes Out Looking Good On This One

The peaceful end of a historic standoff in Montana gives the FBI more than the surrender of 16 defiant anti-government freemen.

The federal agency is rebuilding public confidence in its ability to enforce the law against extremists.

In Montana, the FBI displayed patience and a low profile, and gradually increased the pressure on its fugitive targets, while using their sympathizers as negotiators.

That strategy is a marked contrast to the armed, tactical boldness displayed at the 1992 Ruby Ridge siege in North Idaho and a year later in the fiery encounter with the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas.

Groups across the political spectrum are praising the FBI for its conduct during the record-setting 81-day standoff with the freemen in Jordan, Mont.

“I’m complimentary in the way the FBI handled the siege, that there was no bloodshed,” said David Trochmann, co-founder of the Militia of Montana.

Civil rights groups offered similar praise.

“I think it goes a long way toward restoring public confidence,” said Tom Halpern, chief researcher for the Anti-Defamation League.

FBI Director Louis Freeh said his agency’s new approach was simple: patience and resoluteness.

“The message that comes out of this is very clear to everybody: If you break the law, the United States government will enforce the law. It will do it fairly, but firmly,” Freeh said on NBC’s “Today” show.

Only last September, the nation’s top law enforcement agency was under tough congressional scrutiny.

There was mounting public criticism for the FBI’s handling of the Ruby Ridge siege and the raid on the Branch Davidian compound at Waco.

The criticism hasn’t completely evaporated, and FBI agents still could be charged criminally for conduct associated with the Ruby Ridge case.

But part of the old shine is starting to return, according to those watching the FBI from front-row seats.

Michael Reynolds, a militia expert with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said it was the FBI’s “patience and flexibility that led to a peaceful solution.”

“The FBI attempted to accommodate the freemen in ways never seen before,” Reynolds said.

That included flying one fugitive from Jordan to Billings, Mont., and then allowing him to return to the freemen compound. Family members of the fugitives also were allowed to visit during the siege.

There are unconfirmed reports that FBI negotiators eager to get negotiations going - also provided the freemen with cigarettes after their supplies ran out.

“I think what was accomplished in Montana should polish up the FBI’s image that was tarnished,” Reynolds said. “The public at large, I believe, is viewing this as a successful operation.”

The cost will be in the millions. Previous standoffs cost about $1 million a day, and the freemen siege lasted for 81 days.

In Montana, the FBI decided not to send in its tactical experts - the hostage rescue team.

Those elite, semisecret paramilitary teams were deployed immediately during the deadly siege at Ruby Ridge. One sharpshooter from that unit shot and killed the wife of fugitive Randy Weaver.

While the FBI did send its SWAT teams to Jordan, Mont. - on a rotating basis to alleviate boredom and stress - the focus clearly was on negotiations and psychology.

With the passage of time, the FBI appears to have convinced the public that agents were patient and professional and the freemen were mere criminals.

A scientific poll conducted by Aragon Consulting Group of St. Louis just four days before the freemen siege ended showed a majority of Americans favored the FBI’s approach.

In the poll, 48.7 percent of people questioned supported the FBI’s approach, while only 26.3 percent favored stronger steps, including use of force.

The FBI started the pendulum of public opinion swinging by using negotiators sympathetic to the freemen’s anti-government views.

They used Colorado state Sen. Charles Duke, a staunch militia supporter, and James “Bo” Gritz, regarded as an anti-government hero and leader by many militia and rightwing extremist groups.

But Gritz, who helped negotiate the end of the 11-day Ruby Ridge ordeal, threw up his hands and flew out of Montana after talking with the freemen.

When Duke left on May 21, he praised FBI patience. He urged other militia and patriot groups to “avoid this place and allow the FBI to bring it to a conclusion.”

By early June, the FBI turned off the freemen’s electrical power and moved in armored personnel vehicles.

The military-style vehicles brought to Montana were clearly marked with “FBI” in white letters. That apparently was done to convince militia groups the FBI wasn’t using the military against its own citizens.

At Ruby Ridge, the use of military vehicles by the FBI became one of the initial flashpoints.

During the freemen siege, militia groups circulated a plan for random acts of domestic terrorism if the FBI used the military.

The FBI took the threat seriously, circulating the detailed militia “war warning” nationwide to police agencies.

“It was patience, here, that paid off,” said author Ron Kessler, who wrote a recent book about the inner working of the FBI.

“At Ruby Ridge, the FBI actually exceeded its constitutional authority by firing shots when there was no immediate threat,” Kessler said.

“At Waco, the FBI could have waited longer, given the fact there were innocent children in the (Branch Davidian) compound,” he said.

In Waco, daily press briefings and network television cameras at the perimeter intensified the mood to end that standoff, Kessler said from Washington, D.C.

When the freemen siege began on March 25, the FBI implemented a lower-profile approach.

Initially, there weren’t even roadblocks. There were no formal press briefings and only a loose police perimeter, that was gradually tightened.

“This allowed them to simply wait these people out,” Kessler said.

, DataTimes