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Sep 19, - A Review of ATF's Operation Fast and Furious and Related Matters. Submitting OIG: Department of Justice OIG. Date Issued: Wednesday.
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ATF had determined that the Mexican cartels had become the leading gun trafficking organizations operating in the southwest U. ATF announced a goal to deploy eTrace software to all thirty-one states within the Republic of Mexico.

A Review of ATF's Operation Fast and Furious and Related Matters

As part of eTrace expansion, ATF continues to provide training to Mexican and Central American countries to ensure that the technology is utilized to a greater extent. A planned second phase will release the software to all Spanish-speaking countries with agreements with ATF. This money was primarily slated for competitive grants to provide assistance and equipment to local law enforcement along the southern border; and, in high-intensity drug trafficking areas, to combat criminal narcotics activity stemming from the southern border.

The use of "stimulus" money to fund Project Gunrunner is controversial, given the ATF Phoenix Field Division's reported initiative of allowing known criminals to purchase guns in an effort to gain intelligence on the cartels Operation Fast and Furious. Vincent, Grenadines, St. These countries have access to American gun owner identities and information first purchaser only as a result of traces of recovered firearms contained in the database. ATF also works closely with these agencies' task forces which operate along the Southwest border, sharing intelligence, and conducting joint investigations.

By early , Project Gunrunner had resulted in approximately cases by ATF, in which more than 1, defendants were referred for prosecution in federal and state courts and more than 12, firearms were involved. According to the U. Department of State, ATF anticipated conducting numerous additional courses in these subject areas in ATF reported they analyzed firearms seizures in Mexico from FY and identified the following weapons most commonly used by drug traffickers.

The number of trace requests from Mexico has increased since FY , but most seized guns in Mexico have not been traced as only guns originally from the United States are traced. ATF Project Gunrunner has a stated official objective to stop the sale and export of guns from the United States into Mexico in order to deny Mexican drug cartels the firearms considered "tools of the trade". In October , documents were released that indicated Justice Department officials were sent memos in regard to Operation Fast and Furious in Some ATF agents and supervisors strongly objected, and gun dealers who were cooperating with ATF protested the sales, but were asked by ATF to complete the transactions to expose the supply chain and gather intelligence.

As of a report, total of Fast and Furious firearms were recovered in the United States, and were recovered in Mexico. However, at least 1, guns were allowed to walk. Other U. In , Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered in a shootout in Arizona with drug cartel members. Cartel member Manuel Osorio-Arellanes pleaded guilty in to first-degree murder in the case and was sentenced in to 30 years in prison; according to Osorio-Arellanes, four other cartel members perpetrated the attack.

Two rifles from the "Fast and Furious" operation were found at the scene of the crime, but there is no evidence proving that Terry was killed with either of those guns. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Mexican Drug War. Main article: ATF gunwalking scandal. Archived from the original on 15 October Retrieved 26 December The Associated Press. Retrieved 11 December New York Times. Retrieved 16 October Attorney's Office—to eliminate a trafficking organization—and the belief that confronting subjects and seizing firearms could compromise that goal.

At that time, the ATF was also aware of of those weapons being found at crime scenes in Mexico, and in the United States. On the evening of December 14, , U. The group came across five suspected illegal immigrants. When they fired non-lethal beanbag guns, the suspects responded with their own weapons, leading to a firefight.

Terry was shot and killed; four of the suspects were arrested and two AK-pattern rifles were found nearby. He and other agents then contacted Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa R—IA , ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee , who would become a major figure in the investigation of "gunwalking". At the same time, information began leaking to various bloggers and Web sites.

On January 25, , Burke announced the first details of the case to become officially public, marking the end of Operation Fast and Furious. At a news conference in Phoenix, he reported a count indictment of 20 suspects for buying hundreds of guns intended for illegal export between September and December Newell, who was at the conference, called Fast and Furious a "phenomenal case," while denying that guns had been deliberately allowed to walk into Mexico.

Altogether, about 2, firearms were bought by straw purchasers during Fast and Furious. The rest remained on the streets, unaccounted for. Although most weapons were purchased by suspects under investigation by the program, there have been reports of at least one instance of ATF agents being directly involved in the transfer of weapons. On April 13, , ATF Agent John Dodson, with assistance from Agents Casa and Alt, directed a cooperating straw purchaser to give three guns to Isaiah Fernandez, a suspected gun trafficker, and had taped the conversations without prosecutor approval.


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After being instructed by his superiors to obtain approval from prosecutors albeit retroactively , Dodson's proposal was later rejected by his immediate superior David Voth, although he later received permission from Voth's supervisor after submitting a written proposal for the program. As a result, the weapons were never recovered, no arrests were ever made, and the case was closed without charges being filed. Other ATF agents followed the weapons to a storage facility; then surveillance was terminated without interdiction. Since the end of Operation Fast and Furious, related firearms have continued to be discovered in criminal hands.

As reported in September , the Mexican government stated that an undisclosed number of guns found at about crime scenes were linked to Fast and Furious. Torres Marrufo was indicted, but evaded law enforcement for a brief time. On May 29, , four Mexican Federal Police helicopters attacked a cartel compound, where they were met with heavy fire, including from a. There have been questions raised over a possible connection between Fast and Furious and the death of U. Congressional investigators have stated that Osorio was known by the ATF to be a straw purchaser months before he purchased the gun used to kill Zapata, leading them to question ATF surveillance tactics [62] and to suspect a Texas-based operation similar to Fast and Furious.

A Review of ATF's Operation Fast and Furious and Related Matters | Security Assistance Monitor

In addition to Otilio Osorio, a Texas-based drug and gun trafficker, Manuel Barba, was involved in trafficking another of the guns recovered in the Zapata shooting. The timeline of this case, called "Baytown Crew", shows guns were allowed to walk during surveillance that began June 7, On August 20, , Barba received a rifle later recovered in the Zapata ambush and sent it with nine others to Mexico.

The warrant for Barba's arrest was issued February 14, , the day before Zapata was shot. On November 23, , two firearms linked to the ATF were found at the scene of a shootout between Sinaloa cartel members and the Mexican military. Mexican beauty queen Maria Susana Flores Gamez and four others were killed.

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The Justice Department confirmed that the. In a letter to Congressional leaders, Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik, head of the Justice Department's legislative affairs office, wrote, "ATF and the department deeply regret that firearms associated with Operation Fast and Furious have been used by criminals in the commission of violent crimes, particularly crimes resulting in the deaths of civilians and law enforcement officials. In the U. Melson requesting information about the ATF-sanctioned sale of hundreds of firearms to straw purchasers. The letter mentioned a number of allegations that walked guns were used in the fight that killed Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

Weich said claims " ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico. On March 22, , President Barack Obama appeared on Univision and spoke about the "gunwalking" controversy.

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He also stated, "There may be a situation here in which a serious mistake was made, and if that's the case then we'll find out and we'll hold somebody accountable. On May 3, , Attorney General Holder testified to the House Judiciary Committee that he did not know who approved Fast and Furious, but that it was being investigated. He also stated that he "probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks," [78] a claim which would later be questioned [79] [80] [81] as explained below.

In June, ATF Agent Vince Cefalu, who helped to publicize Fast and Furious, was served with termination papers, in a move by the agency he described as politically motivated retaliation. He had been at odds with ATF management since he filed a complaint over tactics in an unrelated case in The ATF denied that the firing was retaliation, and Cefalu's termination letter noted that he leaked documents to the Internet and showed a "lack of candor" in other operations.


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On June 14, , a preliminary joint staff report was released by Representative Issa and Senator Grassley. Representative Issa continued to hold hearings in June and July where ATF officials based in Phoenix and Mexico, and at headquarters in Washington, testified before the committee. He testified: [86] [87]. Over the course of the next 10 months that I was involved in this operation, we monitored as they purchased hand guns, AK variants, and. Rather than conduct any enforcement actions, we took notes, we recorded observations, we tracked movements of these individuals for a short time after their purchases, but nothing more.

Knowing all the while, just days after these purchases, the guns that we saw these individuals buy would begin turning up at crime scenes in the United States and Mexico, we still did nothing. I cannot begin to think of how the risk of letting guns fall into the hands of known criminals could possibly advance any legitimate law enforcement interest.

A second joint staff report was released by the Republicans on July The transfers were initially reported as promotions by the Los Angeles Times , but the ATF stated that they did not receive raises or take on greater responsibilities. Attorney Burke announced his resignation after being questioned by Congressional investigators earlier that month. In October, documents showing that Attorney General Holder's office had been sent briefings on Fast and Furious as early as July , prompted questions about his May statement that he wasn't sure of the exact date, but had known about it for only a few weeks.

The Justice Department said that those briefings were about a different case started before Holder became Attorney General, and that while he had known about Fast and Furious, he didn't know the details of the tactics being used. On October 31, , after the release of subpoenaed documents, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer stated he found out about gunwalking in Operation Wide Receiver in April , and that he wished he had alerted the deputy or the attorney general at the time. What I can tell you, Senator, is that at that time I was in Mexico dealing with the very real issues that we're all so committed to.

On November 8, , Holder stated for the first time in Congressional testimony that "gunwalking" was used in Fast and Furious. He remarked that the tactic is unacceptable, and that the operation was "flawed in its concept and flawed in its execution". He further stated that his office had inaccurately described the program in previous letters sent to Congress, but that this was unintentional.

Reiterating previous testimony, he said that he and other top officials had been unaware that the "gunwalking" tactic was being used. Holder stated that his staff had not shown him memos about the program, noting, "There is nothing in any of those memos that indicates any of those inappropriate tactics that are of concern. Those things were not brought to my attention, and my staff, I think, made the correct decision in that regard. Senator Grassley expressed concern that the Justice Department was using Burke as a scapegoat to protect higher officials and vowed to continue his probe.

On December 2, , the Justice Department formally withdrew its statement of February 4, , denying gunwalking, due to inaccuracies. Later that month, documents showed that some ATF agents discussed using Fast and Furious to provide anecdotal cases to support controversial new rules about gun sales. The regulation, called Demand Letter 3, would require 8, firearms dealers in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas that "have a significant number of crime guns traced back to them from Mexico" to report multiple rifle sales. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona and has since resigned, asserted his innocence and his constitutional right against self-incrimination to avoid testifying.

He was subpoenaed because of the role he might have played in the operation, and in the letter sent from the DOJ to Senator Grassley in February that claimed the ATF did not allow weapons to be trafficked to Mexico. Rather, Operation Fast and Furious was just one of four such operations conducted over five years during the Bush and Obama administrations, and was only "the latest in a series of fatally flawed operations run by ATF agents in Phoenix and the Arizona U. Attorney's Office". The DHS had Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents assigned to the operation after becoming involved in late On May 3, , Congressman Issa released a memorandum to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that included a draft of a resolution to hold Attorney General Holder in contempt.

He questioned how, why, or if oversight by high level Justice Department did not occur in such an important case. He further described the tragic death of Brian Terry, the whistleblowers and their mistreatment, and the damage the operation had to US-Mexico relations. On June 7, , under the threat of being held in contempt of Congress for not turning over additional requested documents, Attorney General Holder appeared at his seventh Congressional hearing, where he continued to deny knowledge of "gunwalking" by high-level officials.