The Critical Incident Response Group (or CIRG) is the part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation which facilitates the FBI's rapid response to, and the management of, crisis incidents. In response to public outcry over the standoffs at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, the FBI formed the CIRG in 1994 to deal more efficiently with crisis situations. The CIRG is designated to formulate strategies, manage hostage or siege situations, and, if humanly possible, resolve them "without loss of life," as FBI Director Louis Freeh, who assumed the post four-and-a-half months after the Waco fire, pledged in a 1995 Senate hearing. Official FBI Seal The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal criminal investigative and intelligence agency which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... Ruby Ridge is a remote mountainous area in the northern Idaho Panhandle, known for a confrontation in August 1992 between a family living there and agents of the US federal government. ... The Branch Davidians are a religious group originating from the Seventh-day Adventist Church. ... Waco is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. ... Louis Joseph Freeh (born January 6, 1950 in Jersey City, New Jersey of German and Italian extraction) was nominated by President Clinton to be the Director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). ...

CIRG was intended to integrate tactical and investigative resources and expertise for critical incidents which necessitate an immediate response from law enforcement authorities. CIRG will deploy investigative specialists to respond to terrorist activities, hostage takings, child abductions and other high-risk repetitive violent crimes. Other major incidents include prison riots, bombings, air and train crashes, and natural disasters.

Each of the five major areas of CIRG (the Operations Support Branch, the Tactical Support Branch, the Technical Support Branch, the Strategic Information and Operations Center (SIOC) and the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) furnishes distinctive operational assistance and training to FBI field offices as well as state, local and international law enforcement agencies. The primary mission of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) is to combine investigative and operational support functions, research, and training in order to provide assistance, without charge, to federal, state, local, and foreign law enforcement agencies investigating unusual or repetitive violent crimes. ...