This is taken from an academic site, the University of Virginia's religious movements site, emphasis mine:

In accepting the position of independent investigator, Mr. [Jackk] Danforth pledged to focus on two "dark questions:" Did the federal government kill people? And was there a cover up? He also said that he was not going to try and second guess decisions made by field officers and their superiors. We hope Mr. Danforth will not so narrowly define his inquiry, for it was most certainly a series of poor judgments and decisions that led ultimately to the inferno that took the lives of so many persons who should not have died. If Mr. Danforth does nothing else but read the many carefully documented reports that are linked to this page, we believe he will come to the same conclusion.

......

Investigating possible firearms violations within the compound at Mount Carmel, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) agents raided the Branch Davidian compound on February 28, 1993. The fact that those who the agents were investigating were involved in what was believed to be a cult heavily influenced the way in which the agents went about dealing with David Koresh and the others suspected of firearms violations. This is evident in BATF agent Davy Aguilera's "Probable Cause Affidavit," which became part of the search warrant issued on February 25, 1993.

Relying heavily on reports from a few former members of the Branch Davidians, Marc Breault (a former member and angry apostate) and Rick Ross (a deprogrammer and anti-cultist), Aguilera's affidavit delved into topics not under the jurisdiction of the BATF or part of the initial investigation into firearms violations, such as allegations of child abuse. His affidavit and the assumptions put forth by Breault and Ross decisively influenced the investigation and opinion of Koresh and his followers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Attorney General Janet Reno, and President Clinton. Swayed primarily by the statements of Breault, and convinced that there was more than firearms violations going on at Mount Carmel, the BATF chose to serve the search warrant by raiding the compound, instead of apprehending Koresh while he was away from the compound. Ironically, the illegal activities that Koresh was being arrested for had to do with failure to properly register certain firearms and had nothing to do with the illegal possession of the alleged weapons. The nature of the compound and the fact that the Branch Davidians were considered a cult by the government convinced the BATF that because of its "cultic" nature bad things were going on inside Mount Carmel. As a result, the BATF raided the compound on February 28, 1993.

http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/bran.html

Simply labeling a new religious movement one does not like a "cult" and despising them for being different, is unAmerican. Most religious studies scholars deplore what happened at Waco.

Rick Ross is a non-professional nothing who claims for himself the label of "cult expert," and most religious studies scholars are deeply critical of him and his ilk. In the 70s and 80s, these "deprogrammers" kidnapped and falsely imprisoned adults -- for a hefty fee from families who disapproved of the loved one's being a member of the "cult." The law finally put a stop to that.

Mormons were once considered a cult, and were subject to vigilante death and violence -- some Xians still think of them as a cult. In the 19th century U.S. Roman Catholics were also so regarded, and at least one convent was burned to the ground. Despising and persecuting minority and/or new religions is as American as apple pie. That's what happened to the Branch Davidians.

Anson Shupe, Jeffrey Hadden and some of the others you cite, are students of religion -- Ph.Ds who understand the sociology and history of religious bigotry in America. (And I think they are political liberals, if that matters to you.)

Rick Ross is a hired gun who sells inflammatory BS to the media about "scary new religions." He peddles religious bigotry. For years, "deprogrammers" like him literally kidnapped and held adults imprisoned in basements, screaming at them to repudiate their unorthodox beliefs, Bible in hand, telling them their differing views were "wrong."

Align with them if you like. But how illiberal of you.

Appeals to authority are not always fallacious. When one is untutored in a subject, it is wise to go with the views of the very well tutored. That's why we have not just fact witnesses, but expert witnesses at trials.

(Which is not to say all cults are angelic; I have my own profound criticisms of Scientology. But then, for me the same goes for the Roman Catholic Church.)