Expect 'wait-them-out' law enforcement response to militants in Oregon, experts say

Expect law enforcement to take a "wait-them-out'' approach to the occupation by a group of militants at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge southeast of Burns, experts say. The FBI's aggressive and deadly showdowns at Waco and Ruby Ridge in the early 1990s became catalysts for rewriting how to handle sieges by extremists. The federal response drew a public outcry, congressional hearings and internal investigations. In the years since, the FBI has moved toward low-key negotiations and keeping tactical teams and their equipment out of sight until warranted. "Certainly in a case where there doesn't appear to be any immediate concern about hostages or immediate safety to the public, I would hope a reasonable approach would happen here," said Michael German, a former FBI agent who now serves as a national security expert and fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law. He was an FBI agent for 16 years, specializing in counterterrorism cases involving far-right groups. The FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives use more patience now. That's what happened in the Montana Freeman case of 1996, when federal law enforcement "took a 'wait them out' approach rather than try to do any heavy-handed armed intervention,'' German said. Outside Burns, the 20 or so armed occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge haven't become violent. No one is being held hostage. The reserve isn't an essential government operation. "Silence and patience are friends that never betray, particularly for law enforcement," said Brian Levin, director of California State University's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and a former New York police officer. "We have a group of armed squatters who are extremists holed up on a desolate unoccupied compound," Levin said. "There is no imminent threat to public safety, to commerce or structures at this time."...The Oregonian