“I have studied both critical incidents and written about them

“I have studied both critical incidents and written about them. I was involved in data gathering and sending

memos during the Freemen critical incident.

“Watch what is happening with al-Sadr in an-Najaf. This is a critical incident writ large of the type my

colleagues and I have advised about, studied, and written about over a period of eight years. I am

hypothesizing that we risk making the same mistake at an-Najaf with al-Sadr that we made at Waco, unless the

knowledge gained from three critical incidents in the MBT. — the CSA (The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of

the Lord), Branch Davidian, and Waco — has been transmitted to the MBT. military and CPA and has been

incorporated into their strategies and tactics. I seriously doubt that this is the case.

“I have written and spoken many times about how a religiously motivated critical incident, or standoff, differs

qualitatively and markedly from a criminally-motivated hostage standoff. The latter is the model for defusing

critical incidents among law enforcement and CT specialists. They remain uninformed and skeptical about these

important differences to this day. The Freemen crisis actually began to unravel after scholars advised the FBI

to “get a letter from God” to Gloria Ward that allowed her and her two children to leave the Clark ranch. They

did so and she left. I have published an article about the Freemen crisis in a peer-reviewed journal and it was

reprinted in the book, Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence, ed. by Catherine Wessinger.