by Dennis Wagner - Sept. 19, 2012 11:31 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com
An Inspector General's report on the notorious Arizona firearms-smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious throws a blanket of blame on the U.S. Department of Justice, from high-ranking officials in Washington, D.C., to federal agents and prosecutors in Phoenix.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that Fast and Furious, which was designed to go after narcotics kingpins, suffered from "misguided strategies, tactics, errors in judgment and management failures that permeated the ATF headquarters and the Phoenix field division, as well as the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona and at the headquarters of the Department of Justice."
However, the 471-page report concludes that Attorney General Eric Holder was unaware of the flawed investigative tactic that allowed suspected criminals to buy and transport an estimated 2,000 guns, mostly to Mexico.
Horowitz, who works for Holder, said in a news release that his inquiry was conducted "with complete and total independence" and included a review of more than 100,000 documents and interviews of 130 witnesses.
The findings singled out 14 federal officials for harsh criticism, and repercussions were immediate: Kenneth Melson, former acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, announced his immediate retirement. Jason Weinstein, who headed organized-crime enforcement for the Attorney General's Office, tendered his resignation.
Release of the report came a day before today's planned testimony by Horowitz before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which has spearheaded congressional investigations of Fast and Furious.
Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said the report reveals "a near total disregard for public safety in Operation Fast and Furious."
Issa and others in Congress have sought to blame Holder and President Barack Obama for the botched case. The Inspector General inquiry stopped short of that. It faulted at least a half-dozen Justice Department subordinates for negligent leadership while finding that Holder "was not made aware of the potential flaws" until after the case became public.
"We concluded that the Attorney General's Deputy Chief of Staff, the Acting Deputy Attorney General, and the leadership of the Criminal Division failed to alert the Attorney General to significant information about or flaws in those investigations," the report says.
The report also says Holder played no part in preparing a DOJ letter that falsely told members of Congress that guns had not knowingly been allowed across the border.
Holder said Wednesday that the findings are consistent with testimony he has given in repeated appearances at congressional hearings: He did not know about the "inappropriate" strategy, first employed by Arizona agents in 2006 during President George W. Bush's administration. And he did not orchestrate a cover-up.
Among other key findings in the inspector general's report:
ATF agents and federal prosecutors in Phoenix shared responsibility for a "seriously flawed" strategy that "failed to consider the risk to public safety in the United States and Mexico."
Wiretap applications submitted to five high-level deputies under Holder were not properly reviewed despite "red flags regarding the conduct of the investigations."
ATF headquarters failed to provide meaningful oversight to agents in Arizona despite the dangerous nature of the investigation.
DOJ officials who denied that Fast and Furious entailed a strategy of letting guns "walk" to Mexico knew or should have known that their claims were false.
The gun-running probe was launched in late 2009 by Phoenix ATF agents who uncovered a ring of 40 gun buyers suspected of sending weapons to Mexico.
The objective, as explained by ATF and Justice Department officials, was to identify and arrest major smuggling figures in Mexican crime syndicates. Agents set up surveillance and obtained wiretaps to gather intelligence on the straw buyers -- small-time criminals who eventually bought more than 2,000 AK-47-style rifles and other weapons from licensed firearms stores.
In many cases, the acquisitions were legal and agents had no grounds to detain suspects or seize the weapons. Over a two-year period, virtually no arrests were made. Yet, during that time, guns from the case showed up at homicide scenes in Mexico and the U.S.
Some ATF agents and DOJ officials fretted that weapons were being allowed to "walk" into the hands of criminals. Still, investigators dragged out the probe until Dec. 14, 2010, when U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in a gunbattle near Nogales. Two rifles from Fast and Furious were found at the scene.
The Justice Department refused to confirm that Terry likely was killed by a weapon from the case. Some ATF agents became whistle-blowers, prompting a congressional inquiry led by Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
The Justice Department issued a letter to Grassley claiming guns were not knowingly allowed into Mexico. Evidence and testimony suggested otherwise, however, morphing Fast and Furious from a clandestine criminal case into a political furor.
As congressional investigators pressed to identify the highest-level officials responsible, a battle erupted over Justice Department records. In June, the House voted along mostly partisan lines to hold the attorney general in contempt for refusing to provide documents. Last month, Issa's committee filed a civil suit to overcome an Obama administration claim of executive privilege.
The inspector general offered a half-dozen recommendations to prevent similarly flawed cases in the future. The list includes a review of ATF policies and procedures, revised protocols for handling wiretaps and new guidelines for gun-trafficking investigations.
The scandal over Fast and Furious forced the resignation of Dennis Burke, then the U.S. attorney for Arizona, who was singled out for criticism in the inspector general's findings for leadership failures and providing false information.
Terry's family, which has been active politically and filed a $25 million wrongful-death claim in federal court, could not be reached for comment. However, Terry's cousin, Robert Heyer, issued a statement Wednesday saying the report "appears to document the serious, systemic failures of the Justice Department at all levels."
Republic reporter Ron Hansen contributed to this article.
20 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2012/09/19/20120919fast-and-furious-justice-department-faulted.html
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