Optics Expert, Barbara Grant, Rebuts Waco Standoff Report
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http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/11207WACOOPTICGS.html
Barbara Grant says she relied on science in her analysis of what happened at
the Branch Davidian compound.
By Alan D. Fischer
ARIZONA DAILY STAR, Dec 7, 2001
Tucson optics consultant Barbara Grant used science - not politics - to
determine that law enforcement agents likely fired guns at the Branch
Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, in the moments leading up to the
building burning to the ground.
A November 2000 report said agents fired no shots at Branch Davidians that
day in 1993.
Grant spent two years studying infrared tapes taken by the FBI between 11:18
a.m. and 12:15 p.m. on April 19, 1993, from a plane circling 4,000 to 6,000
feet above the compound.
A 51-day standoff between the Branch Davidians and federal agents ended that
day after a fire engulfed the compound following efforts to drive the
occupants out by using tear gas and demolishing portions of the structure.
About 80 people died, and some survivors were severely burned.
Grant, speaking to about 50 people at Thursday's Arizona Optics Industry
Association luncheon meeting, showed segments of the FLIR infrared sensor
tape that recorded temperature variations at the compound, including several
sequences of multiple, sequential high-temperature "flashes" aimed toward
the building.
"I believe the most likely explanation of the flashes is gunfire," Grant said.
She said the series of flashes occurred periodically until about 12:10 p.m.,
when the compound burst into flames. Her research focused primarily on a
multiple flash sequence at 11:28 a.m.
A report on the incident, released Nov. 8, 2000, by Waco Investigation
Special Consul John C. Danforth, states "unequivocally" that "government
agents did not shoot at the Branch Davidians on April 19, 1993."
Casey Stavropoulos, public affairs press assistant at the U.S. Justice
Department in Washington, D.C., said late Thursday that she had no
information on Grant's investigation. "I don't have anything to comment on
in response to what her findings are," Stavropoulos said.
A Justice Department representative said earlier this week that the agency
stands behind the Danforth report's findings.
Other explanations of the flashes have included a malfunction of the FLIR
sensor and heat from the sun glinting off debris at the compound.
The Danforth report states: "It is concluded with a confident level of
certainty that of all of the analyzed flashes seen on FLIR videotapes from
April 19, 1993, between 10:41 a.m.-12:16 p.m. are caused by solar or heat
reflections from single or multiple objects.
"The results from this investigation have shown, with a confident level of
certainty, that the flashes on the FLIR videotapes from April 19, 1993,
between 10:41 a.m.-12:16 p.m. cannot form evidence of gunfire."
Grant said her study showed the sensor malfunction and debris reflection
scenarios are far less likely to explain the infrared flashes than the
muzzle flash of weapons. "I would discount the first one," she said. "For
the second one, in our experiments we found glass gives a pretty awful
reflection in the infrared spectrum - not like visual light, it appears as a
vague glow, not like the flashes that appeared on the tape."
She said that debris would have to be shiny, elevated and precisely aimed at
the FLIR sensor in the moving aircraft to work as an explanation for the
heat flashes. Grant said that unlike Danforth's report, she would not claim
to be 100
percent certain of her findings.
"My mind is still open. If someone can come up with a better solution, I
will be glad to consider it," she said. "I am saying this is the most likely
conclusion."
"It was valid science," Arizona Optics Industry Association member Keith
McLeod said of Grant's presentation. "It wasn't schlepping one side or the
other. It was simply taking basic high school and college analysis to
dismantle the FBI's position."
Kathleen Perkins, CEO and publisher of OpticsReport, said, "This is a fine
example of how optical engineers can find thorough solutions to problems."
Grant, a 1989 University of Arizona Optical Sciences Center graduate, is an
electro-optical engineer who specializes in radiometric measurement and data
analysis. This involves the measurement of light and the analysis of data
obtained from optical instruments. She has worked as a Tucson-based
electro-optics consultant the past four years.
She said she was drawn to the Waco controversy and wanted to approach it
from a technical, analytical angle, avoiding the emotion and politics that
had crept into some other investigations.
"I stayed very much in the technical realm. There is more technology here
than you can shake a stick at," she said. "I haven't accepted a dime of
money from anyone. I wanted to make this as objective as possible."
Grant and local attorney Dave Hardy, who pursued a Freedom of Information
Act suit for two years to get the FBI to surrender a copy of the FLIR tape,
made their own infrared tapes of weapons firing at a local shooting range
for comparison.
These tests at the Desert Trails Gun Club and Training Facilities showed
that muzzle flashes could last four times longer than the government said
was possible, and helped Grant show that muzzle flashes would appear on the
30-frame-per-second FLIR videotapes.
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