By David A. Vise
                  Washington Post Staff Writer
                  Saturday, April 8, 2000; Page A01

                  Attorney General Janet Reno and other senior Clinton administration officials
                  have devised a plan to use force to remove Elian Gonzalez from the home of
                  his Miami relatives unless they agree to cooperate in turning the boy over to
                  authorities and his father, people familiar with the matter said yesterday.

                  Rather than approaching the house by night, senior Justice Department
                  officials have decided, if necessary, to send a team of federal marshals and
                  immigration officers to take custody of the youngster in daylight. They
                  anticipate resistance from a human chain of anti-Castro protesters, sources
                  said.

                  The decision to remove Elian during the day was made after Justice
                  Department officials consulted with two psychiatrists and one psychologist
                  about the least traumatic way to take custody of the child, sources said.

                  Officials are counting on local police to handle any rioting by protesters.
                  While they prefer a peaceful resolution of the matter after weeks of
                  negotiations, Attorney General Janet Reno and Deputy Attorney General
                  Eric H. Holder Jr. now are prepared for the potentially ugly spectacle of
                  televised conflict with protesters in Miami to uphold the law, sources said.

                  Thursday's arrival from Cuba of the 6-year-old's father, Juan Miguel
                  Gonzalez, who pleaded for custody of his son again yesterday, cemented that
                  decision, sources said.

                  "We are going to constantly be taking the temperature of the relatives and of
                  the crowds around there, and we will plan to use the minimum amount of
                  force," a Clinton administration official said. "At no time will we be losing
                  sight of what is in the best interest of the child, and we are absolutely
                  committed to being sensitive to what may prove traumatic as humanly
                  possible.

                  "We fully expect the local police to fulfill their responsibility to the citizens of
                  the city of Miami and Dade County to protect innocent people from being
                  harmed and property from being destroyed," the official added.

                  Reno emphasized yesterday that she wants to resolve the situation
                  peacefully and called on the family to live up to its pledge to comply with the
                  law.

                  Elian's Miami relatives and their attorneys have said they will comply with
                  the law in dealing with the boy's custody and would not try to impede federal
                  officials who come to take him away. The relatives have said repeatedly,
                  however, that they would not help officials in removing Elian but would
                  merely stand aside.

                  Talks between Immigration and Naturalization Service officials and the
                  Miami relatives who are caring for Elian broke off Thursday. Yesterday, a
                  legal and tactical strategy kicked into gear after Reno met with Juan Miguel
                  Gonzalez for about an hour in her office suite at the Justice Department.

                  Reno was moved by her discussions with Gonzalez, sources said, just as she
                  had been by reading the transcripts of INS interviews with him in Cuba. She
                  and her advisers have decided that it is time to make contingency plans to
                  forcibly take custody of Elian, who was picked up in the ocean on
                  Thanksgiving Day after his mother and others drowned attempting to flee
                  Cuba.

                  Reno, whose tenure as attorney general began with the fiery deaths of 75
                  people near Waco, Tex., after the Branch Davidian compound was stormed
                  by FBI agents, once again is in an extremely difficult position regarding the
                  best way to resolve a potentially lethal dispute.

                  Politically, the stakes are high, but Reno believes the dynamics have shifted
                  since the boy's father arrived, pleaded for the return of his son, and freely
                  expressed the desire to return to Cuba, sources said.

                  As law enforcement officials were devising possible forcible-entry scenarios,
                  White House officials were watching with concern, determined that the
                  Justice Department avoid taking any action that might spark unrest in Miami.

                  While White House officials said they are not directly making decisions in
                  the Elian Gonzalez case, senior Clinton aides are being updated several times
                  daily. They expect to be briefed--and given the right of refusal--on any plan
                  that Reno and her subordinates want to carry out.

                  "Our concern is that the rule of law prevail, and that everyone involved is
                  respectful of the rule of law," a senior White House official said.

                  The Justice Department plan has been developed by Reno, Holder,
                  Immigration and Naturalization Service Director Doris N. Meissner, and two
                  senior Justice Department staff members who report to Holder: James E.
                  Castello, associate deputy attorney general, and Brad Glassman, counsel to
                  the deputy attorney general. Castello and Glassman have previously worked
                  together on sensitive immigration matters.

                  Reno reiterated yesterday an offer first made to the family in Miami last
                  week: Turn over Elian immediately to his father, who is staying in Bethesda,
                  and she will seek to have them remain in the United States while the appeals
                  process over Elian's immigration status and custody continue. Or,
                  alternatively, keep the boy until federal marshals seize him pursuant to a
                  court order, but there would be no government effort to keep Juan Miguel
                  Gonzalez and his son from returning to Cuba before the appeals process is
                  over.

                  The Justice Department plan, which has been reviewed by White House
                  officials, includes seeking a court order directing the the relatives in Miami to
                  turn Elian Gonzalez over to the INS. If they do not comply, they can be held
                  in contempt of court and subject to criminal sanctions or fines.

                  "Our duty and responsibility is to fulfill the order of a court and to see that
                  the rule of law prevails," a Clinton administration official said. "Reno and
                  Holder and Meissner are of one mind. . . . Local disturbances will in no way
                  prevent the law from being enforced."

                  Reno declared yesterday: "There is a bond, a special, wonderful sacred
                  bond, between a father and his son, one that I intend to uphold."

                  Staff writer John Harris contributed to this report.

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