Agents say DOJ still being untruthful about efforts to let guns 'walk' into hands of drug cartels
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) today released a report, "The Department of Justice's Operation Fast and Furious: Accounts of ATF Agents." The report includes testimony from four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) agents offering firsthand accounts about the controversial Operation Fast and Furious that allowed suspects to walk away with illegally purchased guns. Two of the approximately 2,000 guns that ATF let criminals walk away with were found at the murder scene of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.
"ATF agents have shared chilling accounts of being ordered to stand down as criminals in Arizona walked away with guns headed for Mexican drug cartels," said Rep. Issa. "With the clinical precision of a lab experiment, the Justice Department kept records of weapons they let walk and the crime scenes where they next appeared. To agents' shock, preventing loss of life was not the primary concern."
"These agents have risked their lives working for the ATF and they've risked their careers by coming forward to speak the truth about a dangerous strategy that was doomed from the start," Grassley said. "The report shows the street agents' perspective on this risky policy to let guns walk. It should help people who are wondering what really happened during Operation Fast and Furious understand why we are continuing to investigate.Highlights of the report include :
- The supervisor of Operation Fast and Furious was "jovial, if not, not giddy but just delighted about" walked guns showing up at crime scenes in Mexico according to an ATF agent. (p. 37)
- Another ATF agent told the committee about a prediction he made a year ago that "someone was going to die" and that the gunwalking operation would be the subject of a Congressional investigation. (p. 24)
- The shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords created a "state of panic" within the group conducting the operation as they initially feared a "walked" gun might have been used. (p. 38)
- One Operation Fast and Furious Agent: "I cannot see anyone who has one iota of concern for human life being okay with this ..." (p. 27)
- An ATF agent predicted to committee investigators that more deaths will occur as a result of Operation Fast and Furious. (p.39)
- Multiple agents told the committee that continued assertions by Department of Justice Officials that guns were not knowingly "walked" and that DOJ tried to stop their transport to Mexico are clearly untruthful. (p. 45-50)
