FOR the first time since the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas, FBI agents have surrounded a property where heavily armed men and their families are holed up, declaring themselves independent of federal and state control.
But the tactics used in the lockade of a remote group of buildings on a 960 acre farm near Billings, Montana, show that the authorities are determined not to repeat the blunders which contributed to the deaths of more, than 70 people at Waco.
Some 12 people are besieged on the wheat and sheep farm in the northern state bordering Canada, including at least two children, they are members of the Freemen, who last year declared themselves free of all government control and refuse to pay taxes.
They face charges of fraud and occupying a farm to which they have no title.
The stand off is also reminiscent of the 1992 Ruby Ridge incident in Idaho when white supremacist Randall Weaver kept federal authorities at bay for 11 days. His wife was killed by a law enforcement sniper and two other people died in gunfire.
This incident has become a cause celebre for right wing militia throughout the US, many which have sent members to monitor the Montana siege.
About a dozen men from the Militia of Montana, a far right group, attended the arraignment of two leaders of the Freemen in a Billings court on Tuesday.
The men were carrying loaded handguns when arrested at the farm on Monday but no shots were fired. The case's adjourned when they began yelling loudly in the courtroom. They said they refused to recognise the court or the jurisdiction of federal state or local authorities.
Mr LeRoy Schweitzer (57), and Mr Daniel Petersen (53), were charged along with 10 others with using counterfeit money orders and cheques. They were also accused of threatening federal officials and making a death threat against US District Court Judge Jack Shanstrom of Billings.
The FBI and police withdrew from the ranch after the arrests and are now positioned out of sight. Under new federal guidelines, FBI agents and Treasury Department officers are allowed to shoot only if lives are threatened.
FBI Director Mr Louis Freeh is this time avoiding the use of the military style tactics which under Congressional fire, especially from Republican The operation has been planned carefully for months. Behavioural specialists and negotiators are accompanying the highly trained Swat teams who are wearing civilian clothes rather than black fatigues and helmets. There are no black painted helicopters overhead as in the past.
Police have closed the airspace, the farm and barred journalists from the immediate area, claiming it is for their own safety. In recent incidents, the protesters took expensive equipment from ABC television crew, fired a warning shot at a Polish reporter and seized film from an Associated Press photographer.
Federal officials used a televised news conference on Tuesday to appeal to the families to surrender. "Come in and let's talk about this. We intend you no harm. Our goal is for you to come on in peacefully and I promise you that if you do you will be sale," said US attorney Mr Sherry Matteucci.
Sheriff Charles Phipps, who has been under death threat by the group for a year, appealed to them to think about their families.
The group took over the farm of fellow Freeman, Mr Ralph Clark, just before he lost it to foreclosure last year. They have reportedly been stockpiling arms, according to ranchers in the area.
A low key siege has been going on for some months and the Freemen have not emerged for fear of arrest. They cave been living, on tees from seminars on tax evasion.
In December, authorities claimed that about 800 people from 30 states had travelled to the farmhouse to attend classes on how to falsify financial documents to avoid paying taxes. They claim that losses by financial institutions, public agencies and businesses have exceeded $1.8 million (£1.15 million).
Mr Nick Murnion, a county attorney and an opponent of the Freemen, warned a Congressional hearing in November that the stand off would only end in violence.
Residents of Montana are overwhelmingly on the side of the authorities. A poll in the Billings Gazette in December showed 60 per cent believed the FBI should act more speedily to arrest the Freemen, and only 24 per cent approved of the go slow tactic.