[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]Numerous people from around the country have reported to Mr. John Quinn and the CRTF webmaster that they saw a large, blue "NATO" truck located on the Columbine High School grounds at about 11:30 a.m. It was shown from a helicopter. The cameraman zoomed in and immediately the video feed was cut. One source told CRTF, "I remember seeing a large vehicle -- blue, black -- I remember it being dark in color, as for blue or black I am not positive regarding the color. However I do remember seeing 'NATO' on the truck and I remember the shield on the vehicle." The words "NATO" were possibly imprinted on a shield on the front of the vehicle.
Others reported seeing "NATO" SWAT personnel. A news video tape was sent by a source to Mr. Quinn which showed these men with "NATO" inscriptions in white on their uniforms/body shields. Quinn says the uniforms/shields do in fact appear to say "NATO", although the video is of poor quality.
As bizarre as the NATO reports are, we feel they are completely credible since dozens of people initially reported to John Quinn the same facts independently, and some facts that had not yet been released by Quinn were corroborated independently by various people. Whether the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was present seems very unlikely and remains unconfirmed.
Sgt. Mark Lewis of the Denver Police Department offered us this explanation, "...could it have been NTOA, which stands for National Tactical Officers Association?" The following web site offers an explanation per the NATO shields. A credible source also tells us that when viewing a Denver SWAT operation on TV in late 1999, completely unrelated to Columbine, he saw a large, blue truck with the letters "NATO" imprinted on the side. The truck was part of the SWAT operation.
The camera man focuses on a number of officials in the staging area, from a SWAT guy dredging around a body shield that says "NATO-3" in white letters on its front, to a man wearing sunglasses and a black suit -- possibly the FBI's Dwayne Fuselier.