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On the day of the raid, an ambulance company hired by the ATF agents leaked word of "Operation Trojan Horse" to a local TV station, which then sent a cameraman to check on the situation. The cameraman asked a local postman, David Jones, for directions to the Koresh compound. He also told Jones about the raid. Jones, who happened to be David Koresh's brother-in-law, told his father about the impending operation, and the word reached Koresh.
Koresh was leading a Bible session when he was tipped off. In attendance was Robert Rodriguez, an undercover ATF agent. Koresh was already suspicious of Rodriguez, but according to one surviving cult member had hoped to recruit him anyway. In a dramatic confrontation, said last week's report, Koresh, looking agitated, dropped his Bible and muttered the words "the kingdom of God." Then he said, "Neither the ATF team nor the National Guard will ever get me. They got me once and they'll never get me again." Looking out a window, he said, "They're coming, Robert. The time has come."
Rodriguez immediately made an excuse to leave in order to warn the ATF team that there was no longer any hope of surprise. As he headed out the door, Koresh grabbed his hand and said, "Good luck, Robert." The agent immediately reported to his superior, ATF tactical coordinator Charles Sarabyn, who relayed word to Phillip Chojnacki, the agent in charge of the raid. "Sarabyn expressed his belief that the raid could still be executed successfully if they hurried," said the report. "Chojnacki responded, 'Let's go.' " A number of agents informed the Treasury investigative panel that Sarabyn said things like "Get ready to go; they know we are coming."
ATF obfuscation began almost immediately after the compound burned down. On March 3 Daniel Hartnett, associate director of law enforcement, told the press that though Rodriguez knew Koresh had received a phone call, the agent "did not realize this was a tip at the time." On March 29 Higgins said, "We would not have executed the plans if our supervisors had lost the element ((of surprise))."
When the Texas Rangers asked to see the plans for the raid, Chojnacki, Sarabyn and Dyer revised the original documents, says the report, "to make it more thorough and complete." Last week Bentsen summoned Hartnett, Chojnacki and Sarabyn, along with Edward Daniel Conroy, the deputy director for law enforcement, and David Troy, chief of the intelligence division, and told them they were being removed from active service. The evidence against them had been found in their own internal records and the accounts of more than 60 agents in the field.