A search for earthward propagating fast mode compressions in the near-Earth tail has been conducted. ISEE electric and magnetic field data were studied for substorm and quiet times when the spacecraft was close to the neutral sheet, near midnight, and at radial distances of 5.5 to 13 RE. Due to ISEE orbit characteristics, the set of events covered 12 1/2 hours, during which time the satellite remained between 8.5 and 13 RE. Contrary to earlier ideas, no evidence for fast mode compression waves was found during the substorm events studied here, since plasma data and spacecraft potential data showed no density increases at the times of rapid magnetic field increases. For the one compression event for which a temporal offset between the ISEE 1 and ISEE 2 magnetic field structures could be clearly determined, the propagation velocity was ~140 km/s, well below the fast mode speed of ~400 km/s for the measured composition. During substorm events, the largest (EB)/‖B‖2 convection flows were earthward with magnitudes of 100--350 km/s. ¿American Geophysical Union 1990