‘Furious’ Report Slams ‘Disregard’ for Public Safety as Department of injustice Officials Quit

							‘Furious’ Report Slams ‘Disregard’ for
Public Safety as Department of injustice
Officials Quit
Fox News
September 19, 2012

A bombshell report released Wednesday on
Operation Fast and Furious faulted a range
of federal agencies for the failed anti-
gunrunning program and accused officials in
charge of a "disregard" for public safety. In
the wake of the report, one Justice
Department official resigned and another
retired.
The sprawling report by the department's
inspector general is the most comprehensive account yet on the deadly operation which allowed
weapons to "walk" across the U.S.-Mexico border and resulted in hundreds of firearms turning up at
crime scenes in both countries.
The report says Attorney General Eric Holder was not made aware of potential flaws in the program
until February of last year. But the report cites 14 other department employees -- including Criminal
Division head Lanny Breuer -- for potential wrongdoing, recommending the department consider
disciplinary action against them.
One congressional source told Fox News the report was "more brutal than was expected."
The report marked Jason Weinstein, the deputy assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division, as
the highest-ranking DOJ employee in a position to stop the program. Weinstein, who disputes the
findings, is resigning in the wake of the report.
Another official criticized for not asking enough questions about the Furious operation, former ATF
acting director Kenneth Melson, retired after the report came down.
The nearly 500-page report was completed after investigators reviewed 100,000 documents and
                                          interviewed 130 people.
                                            The report slams both the Phoenix office of the Bureau of
                                            Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S.
                                            Attorney's Office for not taking action. The program
                                            caught the attention of Congress and the rest of the country
                                            after weapons from Fast and Furious were found at the
                                            crime scene of murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
                                            "Indeed, no one responsible for the case at either ATF
                                            Phoenix Field Division or the U.S. Attorney's Office in
                                            Arizona raised a serious question or concern about the
                                            government not taking earlier measures to disrupt a
                                            trafficking operation that continued to purchase firearms
with impunity for many months," the report
said. "Similarly, we did not find persuasive
evidence that any supervisor in Phoenix, at
either the U.S. Attorney's Office or ATF, raised
serious questions or concerns about the risk to
public safety posed by the continuing firearms
purchases or by the delay in arresting
individuals who were engaging in the
trafficking.
"This failure reflected a significant lack of
oversight and urgency by both ATF and the
U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix, and a
disregard by both for the safety of individuals
in the United States and Mexico," the report
said.
The office said it "identified serious failures"
by ATF leaders in supervising the operation.
The report faults both Breuer and Weinstein
for not notifying superiors about a prior Bush-
era program called Wide Receiver when
questions about Fast and Furious arose. The
report also said Weinstein knew about Fast and
Furious from discussions with an ATF official
in early 2010 and his review of wiretaps that
year.
Weinstein told Fox News that he's resigning so
as to not "distract" from the department's
work. But he took issue with the report's
conclusions about him.
The inspector general's report cites a
conversation Weinstein had with ATF official Bill McMahon in April 2010. At the time, the department
was trying to bring indictments in the Wide Receiver investigation. Weinstein said he was so upset to
learn that ATF walked guns that he met with McMahon and others. After the meeting, McMahon told
Weinstein about another operation, describing it to McMahon as "the opposite of Wide Receiver" and
insisting it didn't involve gun-walking, according to Weinstein. That was Fast and Furious.
                                            Months later, according to Weinstein, McMahon told
                                            Weinstein that some ATF officials in Phoenix felt wiretap
                                            applications were moving too slowly and the delay was
                                            having an effect on the investigation, so Weinstein helped
                                            push that along. Weinstein says he only read the cover sheets
                                            of wiretap applications. But the IG report says Weinstein was
                                            in a position to stop the program.
                                            The report by Inspector General Michael Horowitz found the
                                            ATF and U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona shared equal
                                            responsibility for the gun-walking programs. It also said
                                            senior leaders did little immediately after Terry's death to
inquire about Operation Fast and Furious. It faulted ATF headquarters for insufficient oversight of the
program. And it cited the "inappropriate" effort to encourage dealers to sell firearms in transactions
they knew were unlawful for weapons they did not intend to seize.
Further, the report said that an erroneous claim in a February letter to Congress that the department did
not knowingly let guns walk was the result of officials relying on inaccurate information in the letter-
drafting process.
DOJ officials Monty Wilkinson and Gary Grindler were also criticized for failing to inform Holder that
two guns connected to Fast and Furious were found at the Terry murder scene.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who along with
Sen. Charles Grassley led the charge on Capitol Hill to investigate the operation, said Wednesday that
the report "confirms" congressional findings "of a near total disregard for public safety" in the
program.
"Contrary to the denials of the Attorney General and his political defenders in Congress, the
investigation found that information in wiretap applications approved by senior Justice Department
officials in Washington did contain red flags showing reckless tactics and faults Attorney General Eric
Holder's inner circle for their conduct," he said.
In an interview with Bret Baier on 'Special Report' Wednesday, Issa said that the report was good
overall, but questions remain about a cover-up.
"The Terry family wants the answer for the initial failure and for the cover-up," he said. "[Today's
resignation] is only the tip of the iceberg. [Weinstein] should have been gone a year and a half ago and
only resigned when the report pointed at him specifically."
Issa told Fox News that there is "no question" that there needs to be "real reform" in the Justice
Department.
"We owe it to the Terry family to fix the system," he said. "We don't
know, or will never know, why such a reckless or foolish tactic
was done, continued and covered up."
Issa called on Obama to "provide accountability" for those
"who failed to do their jobs."
Issa's committee counterpart, though, said the report proved
that Holder and other senior department officials did not
green-light the program.
"The IG's comprehensive report debunks many of the
extreme allegations made by Republicans and confirms many
of the conclusions reached in a report I issued nearly a year ago
- that neither the Attorney General nor senior DOJ officials
authorized or approved of gunwalking in Fast and Furious, that
gunwalking started under the Bush Administration in 2006, and that ATF                        agents in
Phoenix and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona share responsibility for misguided operations
spanning five years," Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said.
B. Todd Jones, acting ATF director, said in a statement that the report was "rightfully critical" of ATF's
handling of Wide Receiver and Fast and Furious.
"ATF accepts full responsibility for its failure to exercise proper leadership and oversight of these
                                                   investigations. Combined with the lack of effective and
                                                   accurate internal communication up and down the
                                                   chain of command, our shortcomings led to a series of
                                                   regrettable events," he said. Jones said the findings
                                                   were referred to an internal office to determine whether
                                                   "adverse actions" are warranted.
                                                 The inspector general is expected to testify on the
                                                 findings on Capitol Hill Thursday morning.
                                                  Click to read the Fast and Furious report.

                                                  Furious Report Slams ‘Disregard’ for Public Safety
                                                 as DOJ Officials Quit VIDEO BELOW
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                                                 disregard-for-public-safety-as-doj-officials-quit/

                                                 Holder Says People Need to be Brainwashed
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