Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News (b)
Early 90s
In 1992 and 1993, respectively, multiple SWAT teams respond to the 11-day Ruby Ridge and 51-day Waco standoffs, following unsuccessful arrest efforts by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Neither is resolved without loss of life, including the lives of small children at Waco after the Branch Davidians set fire to the compound. It becomes a time of deep reevaluation at the FBI.
1994
As a result of Ruby Ridge and Waco, the FBI stands up the Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG) as the FBI’s preeminent response group. For the first time, all critical incident components are housed together and can coordinate rapidly: crisis managers, tactical teams, crisis negotiators, behavioral analysts, bomb techs and aviation, and surveillance and strategic information groups.
1996
The 81-day standoff with the Freemen of Montana, one of the longest in FBI history, unfolds under heavy international media scrutiny—and in the light of Waco. The Freemen are wanted for a host of white-collar crimes related to sovereign-citizen ideology, for refusing to vacate foreclosed land, and for threatening to kill local officials.
Able to bring CIRG capabilities to bear, FBI tactical teams, negotiators, and profilers work together and with other agencies to pressure the heavily armed group—including by eventually staging two armored personnel carriers, borrowed from the Las Vegas Police Department and stenciled with “FBI” in large letters, in plain sight of the compound. In ones and twos, the occupants exit the compound, with the last Freemen surrendering peacefully on June 13.
1997 and beyond
SWAT teams are critical to the FBI’s response to all major incidents in the U.S. and overseas when Americans are concerned, including the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, the Oklahoma City bombing two years later, the East Africa embassy bombings in 1998, and 9/11. SWAT teams are also part of all major special events, including the Olympics in Atlanta and Salt Lake City, and they are deployed in the aftermath of major hurricanes. Enhanced teams deploy with HRT and are embedded with the military on deployments during the global war on terror.