Gun-Running Timeline: How DOJ's Operation Fast and Furious' Unfolded
Thursday, July 07, 2011
By Fred Lucas
(CNSNews.com) - Operation Fast and Furious was a program carried out by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a division of the U.S. Justice Department.
In this operation, which began in the fall of 2009 and continued into early 2011, the federal government purposefully allowed known or suspected gun smugglers to purchase guns at federally licensed firearms dealers in Arizona. The government did not seek to abort these gun purchases, intercept the smugglers after the purchases, or recover the guns they had purchased.
In some cases, as the government expected they would, the smugglers delivered the guns to Mexican drug trafficking organizations.
The reported purpose of the operation was to track and uncover the entirety of the smuggling operations so they could be completely shutdown. However, two rifles sold to a smuggler in the course of Operation Fast and Furious in January 2010 ended up at the scene of the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.
The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.), and Sen. Charles Grassley (R.-Iowa), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, are currently investigating the operation.
Here is a timeline based on information the congressional investigation has so far uncovered.
Operation Fast and Furious Timeline:
September 2009 Jan. 8, 2010: A Jan. 8, 2010 briefing paper from the ATF Phoenix Field Division Group VII says: "This investigation has currently identified more than 20 individual connected straw purchasers." It further says: "To date (September 2009 present) this group has purchased in excess of 650 firearms (mainly AK-47 variants) for which they have paid cash totaling more than $350,000."
October 2009: The ATF's Phoenix Field Division establishes a gun trafficking group called Group VII. Group VII initially began using the strategy of "gunwalking," or allowing suspects to walk away with illegally purchased guns, according to a report by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the staff of Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"The purpose was to wait and watch, in hope that law enforcement could identify other members of a trafficking network and build a large, complex conspiracy case," the report says. It goes on to say: "Group VII initially began using the new gunwalking tactics in one of its investigations to further the Department's strategy. The case was soon renamed Operation Fast and Furious.'"
Nov. 25, 2009: The ATF began conducting surveillance of Jaime Avila as early as this date, according to the congressional report.
Early December 2009: "It should be noted that since early December, efforts to slow down' the pace of these firearms purchases have succeeded and will continue but not to the detriment of the larger goal of the investigation," the ATF briefing paper from Jan. 8, 2010 says. "It should also be noted that the pace of firearms procurement by this straw purchasing group from late September to early December 2009 defied the normal' pace of procurement by other firearms trafficking groups investigated by this and other field divisions. The blitz' was extremely out of the ordinary and created a situation where measures had to be enacted in order to slow this pace down in order to perfect a criminal case."
Jan. 4-Jan. 8, 2010: There were three recorded phone calls during this period "between the most prolific suspected straw-purchaser and the Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL)," according to the ATF briefing paper. "These conversations have been to schedule future purchases of AK-47 variant riffles. The anticipated purchase is about forty (40) rifles."
Jan. 5, 2010: ATF agents met with Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Emory Hurley, the lead prosecutor in the matter, according to the briefing paper. The briefing paper says: "a determination was made that there was minimal evidence at this time to support any type of prosecution; therefore, additional firearms purchases should be monitored and additional evidence continued to be gathered."
Further, US Attorney for the District of Arizona Dennis Burke was briefed on this day. Burke "concurs with the assessment of his line prosecutors and fully supports the continuation of the investigation," the briefing paper says. The paper goes on to say that then head of the ATF Phoenix Field Division, Special Agent in Charge William Newell, "has repeatedly met with the USA Burke regarding the on-going status of this investigation and both are in full agreement with the current investigative strategy."
Jan. 8, 2010: The aforementioned briefing paper from the ATF Phoenix Field Division sheds further light on the operation:
--The paper makes clear: "Currently our strategy is to allow the transfer of firearms to continue to take place, albeit at a much slower pace, in order to further the investigation and allow for the identification of additional co-conspirators who would continue to operate and illegally traffic firearms to Mexican DTOs [Drug Trafficking Organizations]."
--The ATF worked with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Phoenix Ariz. "Surveillance operations are now being coordinated with information being obtained from the REDACTED. This is being coordinated out the of the Phoenix OCDETF Strike Force, of which Phoenix Group VII is a full-time member."
--"There have been five notable seizure events connected with this group, and approximately 53 firearms originally purchased by this group have been recovered. Three of these seizures have been in the Country of Mexico, one recovery in Douglas, AZ, and one recovery in Nogales, AZ. The U.S. recoveries were both believed to be destined for Mexico. It should be noted however that there has been one seizure in the Phoenix areas related to the ongoing DEA narcotics trafficking investigation."
--"The seizures referenced above were not from any member of the targeted group of straw purchasers identified in this investigation. Rather they were from Hispanic individuals (both male and female) whose association with our target group is currently unknown."
--"The ultimate goal is to secure [REDACTED] to identify and prosecute all co-conspirators of the DTO to include the 20 individual straw purchasers, the facilitators of the distribution cell centered here in Phoenix, the transportation cells taking firearms South, and ultimately to develop and provide prosecutable information to our Mexican law enforcement counterparts for actions."
Jan. 15, 2010: A joint strategy meeting was planned for this day, according to the Jan. 8, 2010 ATF document, with the representatives from the ATF, the DEA and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Jan. 16, 2010: Jaime Avila purchased three Romarm 7.62 rifles from Lone Wolfe Trading Company near Glendale, Ariz. According to the report, he also bought guns illegally in April and June of 2010.
Jan. 26, 2010: Operation Fast and Furious receives funding from the Justice Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF)
March 10, 2010: A memo from Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer authorizes a wire tap application as part of Operation Fast and Furious. The memo on the authorization was sent to Paul M. O'Brien, director of the Office of Enforcement Operation for the Criminal Division and to Emory Hurley, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona and the lead prosecutor in the operation.
March 10, 2010: An internal e-mail from George T. Gillett Jr., assistant special agent in charge to supervisor Voth and others said that ATF Acting Director Melson and ATF Deputy Director Billy Hoover "are being briefed weekly on this investigation and the recent success with REDACTED so they are both keenly interested in case updates."
March 11, 2010: An e-mail from Voth to Gillett, with the subject line "Director's questions" said, "Here are anwers to what I understand the director's questions to be. More detail can be provided upon request. I thought it best to start brief. 1.) IP Addresses for Pole Cameras: REDACTED User ID: REDACTED password: REDACTED This must be monitored from a stand-alone computer as ATF Network bandwidth does not permit continuous monitoring." In a news release in June, Rep. Issa said, "With this information, Acting Director Melson was able to sit at his desk in Washington and himself watch a live feed of straw buyers entering the gun stores and purchasing dozens of AK-47 variants."
March 12, 2010: David Voth, the Phoenix Group VII supervisor, sent an e-mail addressing the divide between field agents who wanted to halt the operation and the chain of command who supported the operation.
"Whether you care or not people of rank and authority at HQ are paying close attention to this case and they also believe we (Phoenix Group VII) are doing what they envisioned the Southwest Border Groups doing," Voth's e-mail said. "It may sound cheesy, but we are The Tip of the ATF spear' when it comes to Southwest Border Firearms Trafficking. We need to resolve our issues at this meeting. I will be damned if this case is going to suffer due to petty arguing, rumors or other adolescent behavior. If you don't think this is fun you're in the wrong line of work--period."
The Voth e-mail continued: "This is the pinnacle of U.S. law enforcement techniques. After this, the tool box is empty. Maybe the Maricopa County Jail is hiring detention officers and you can get paid $30,000 (instead of $100,000) to serve lunch to inmates all day."
April 2, 2010: David Voth, the Phoenix Group VII supervisor, sent an e-mail to a redacted recipient that says: "Our subjects purchased 359 firearms during the month of March alone, to include numerous Barrett .50 caliber riffles. I believe we are righteous in our plan to dismantle this entire organization and to rush in to arrest any one person without taking in to account the entire scope of the conspiracy would be ill advised to the overall good of the mission."
April 12, 2010: An e-mail from Voth to Gillett says that the next day, the ATF Deputy Assistant Director for Field Operations William McMahon will get a briefing on the operation.
Dec. 14, 2010: U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, 40, was murdered in Rio Rico, Ariz., by suspected operatives of a Mexican drug-smuggling organization. Police arrested four suspects in the murder.
Dec. 15, 2010: An e-mail exchange among ATF agents at 7:45 p.m. confirmed that the two of the weapons that Jaime Avila had purchased in January 2010 as part of Operation Fast and Furious were found at Terry's murder scene. The names on the e-mail were redacted.
"The two firearms recovered by ATF this afternoon near Rio Rico, Arizona, in conjunction with the shooting death of U.S. Border Patrol agent Terry were identified as Suspect Guns' in the Fast and Furious investigation [REDACTED]," the e-mail says. The e-mail stated the guns and serial numbers, and said: "I initiated an urgent firearms trace request on both of the firearms and then contacted the NTC to ensure the traces were conducted today."
December-January 2010: "According to Acting Director Melson, he became aware of this startling possibility [that guns were being smuggled into Mexico with the awareness of the ATF] only after the [December] murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and the[ January] indictments of the straw purchasers, which we now know were substantially delayed by the U.S. Attorney's Office and Main Justice," says a July 5, 2011 letter from Sen. Grassley and Rep. Issa to Attorney General Holder.
Jan. 8, 2011: U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is shot while meeting with constituents in Tucson. ATF agents were initially worried she might have been shot by a gun sold through Operation Fast and Furious. This turned out not to be the case. However, Pete Forcelli, a group supervisor with the ATF Phoenix Field Division who had warned about potential dangers of the program, told congressional investigators that after Terry was murdered many agents were on edge. "And then there was a sense like every other time, even with Ms. Giffords' shooting, there was a state of panic, like, oh, God, let's hope this is not a weapon from that case."
Jan. 19, 2011: Operation Fast and Furious results in the indictment of 20 straw purchasers, including Jaime Avila. That is the same number of straw purchasers that the ATF had identified as long as a year before this indictment. The Jan. 8, 2010 ATF briefing paper on the operation had said its goal was to prosecute "the 20 individual straw purchasers, the facilitators of the distribution cell centered here in Phoenix, the transportation cells taking firearms South." The indictment focused on the straw purchasers failing to provide accurate information on ATF Form 4473, which a purchaser must complete truthfully when buying a gun. According to the congressional report, the ATF had known that most of the indicted straw purchasers were in fact straw purchasers before Operation Fast and Furious began.
Jan. 25, 2011: Phoenix Special Agent in Charge William Newell held a press conference announcing the indictment of the 20 people as a result of Operation Fast and Furious. When asked if agents purposefully allowed weapons to enter Mexico, Newell says, "Hell, no."
Jan. 27, 2011: Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson that said: "Members of the Judiciary Committee have received numerous allegations that the ATF sanctioned the sale of hundreds of assault weapons to suspected straw purchasers, who then allegedly transported these weapons throughout the southwestern border area and into Mexico. According to these allegations, one of these individuals purchased three assault rifles with cash in Glendale, Arizona on January 16, 2010. Two of the weapons were then allegedly used in a firefight on December 14, 2010 against Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, killing CBP Agent Brian Terry."
Grassley requested that the ATF brief his staff on the matter.
Jan. 31, 2011: Grassley wrote a second letter to Melson that says whistleblowers were being targeted in the agency. "This is exactly the wrong sort of reaction for the ATF. Rather than focusing on retaliating against whistleblowers, the ATF's sole focus should be on findding and disclosing the truth as soon as possible."
The Grassley letter continued, "As you may be aware, obstructing a Congressional investigation is a crime. Additionally, denying or interfering with employees' rights to furnish information to Congress is also against the law. Federal officials who deny or interfere with employees' rights to furnish information to Congress are not entitled to have their salaries paid by taxpayers' dollars. Finally, ATF personnel have Constitutional rights to express their concerns to Congress under the First Amendment."
Feb. 1, 2011: In a story headlined, "Claims tie ATF sting to guns in shootout," The Arizona Republic reported on Grassley's pending investigation and on the whistleblower's allegations. Other media, such as The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times reported on this in the following days.
Feb. 4, 2011: Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote Grassley denying that the Justice Department knowingly "sanctioned" the sale of guns to people they believed were going to deliver them to Mexican drug cartels.
"At the outset, the allegation described in your January 27 letter--that ATF sanctioned' or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them to Mexico--is false," Weich wrote. "ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico."
Feb. 15, 2011: Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata is murdered in Mexico. The Associated Press later reported (on Feb. 28), based on an unnamed source, that the weapon used to kill Zapata "was shipped through Laredo with the possible knowledge of the ATF." The story continued that "the feds were already investigating the suspects when the gun was sent to Mexico." The matter was separate from Operation Fast and Furious, but was under the same umbrella as part of the larger Project Gunrunner.
Feb. 23, 2011: CBS Evening News airs its first piece on Operation Fast and Furious that includes interviews with ATF whistleblowers who say they warned supervisors of potential problems.
March 8, 2011: The Justice Department informed Sen. Grassley that the matter would be reviewed by the DOJ's Office of Inspector General. In a letter to Grassley, Assistant Attorney General Weich wrote, "We appreciated your continuing concern about this matter. We have referred your letters to and the attached documents to the Department's Office of Inspector General."
March 10, 2011: At a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas) asked Holder about the matter.
"What is your view now on that particular program? And I know that you've asked for an IG study of it, but tell me if you think that that program should be continued. Is it the correct use of the Project Gunrunner subprogram, I guess? Because it--of course, it's a great concern."
Holder responded, "Well, first, I'd say that, you know, the mission of ATF and the mission to which they are dedicated is to stop the flow of guns into Mexico and to people who shouldn't have guns here in the United States. And that is the focus of ATF, and it is why ATF agents serve bravely in Mexico and in this country, and I think do a great job. It is true that there have been concerns expressed by ATF agents about the way in which this operation was conducted and I took those allegations, those concerns, very seriously, and asked the inspector general to try to get to the bottom of it. An investigation, an inquiry, is now under way.
"I've also made clear to people in the department that letting guns walk--I guess that's the term that the people use--that letting guns walk is not something that is acceptable. Guns are different than drug cases or cases where we're trying to follow where money goes. We cannot have a situation where guns are allowed to walk, and I've made that clear to the United States attorneys as well as the agents in charge in the various ATF offices."
March 11, 2011: The Contra Costa Times and other news organizations reported that the Mexican attorney general's office, known as the PGR, issued a statement that Mexican authorities were aware of the U.S. anti-gun operation that allowed smugglers to buy weapons under watch of U.S. agents, but that the Mexican government "had no knowledge of the existence of an operation that might include the transgression or controlled trafficking of arms to Mexican territory." The statement continued, "The government of Mexico has not given nor will it give its authorization, tacit or express, under any circumstance, for that to occur."
March 22, 2011: President Barack Obama was asked about Operation Fast and Furious on Univision, a Spanish language network.
"Well, first of all, I did not authorize it," Obama told Univision. "Eric Holder, the attorney general, did not authorize it. There may be a situation here in which a serious mistake was made. If that's the case, then we'll find-- find out and we'll hold somebody accountable."
March 2011: ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson says "he told the Office of Deputy Attorney General at the end of March that the Department needed to reexamine how it was responding to the request for information from Congress," according to a July 5 letter from Rep. Issa and Sen. Grassley to Attorney General Holder.
May 3, 2011: Holder testified to the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Holder had an exchange about Operation Fast and Furious. Under questioning from Issa, Holder said he was not sure of the exact date he first heard of the operation, but said it was "probably … over the last few weeks." Holder also could not say who authorized the operation.
Issa asked: "When did you first know about the program officially, I believe, called Fast and Furious? To the best of your knowledge, what date?"
Holder answered: "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks."
Issa followed: "Now that you've been briefed on it, the president has said on March 22 that you didn't authorize it. Did your deputy attorney general, James Cole, authorize it?"
Holder answered: "I'm sorry. That would be?"
Issa repeated: "The deputy attorney general, James Cole."
Holder again acted puzzled: "Did he -- I didn't hear. Did he?"
Issa completed the question: "Did the deputy attorney general authorize it?"
Holder finally gave a less than clear answer: "My guess would be no. Mr. Cole, I don't think, was in theI--I think--I don't think he was in the department at the time that operation started."
Issa went on to ask: "How about the head of the Criminal Division, Lanny Breuer?"
Holder answered, "I'm not sure."
Issa followed; "Did he authorize it?"
Holder responded: "I'm not sure whether Mr. Breuer authorized it. I mean, you have to understand the way in which the department operates. Although there are--there are operations, this one has become--has gotten a great deal of publicity."
Issa later asked: "Do you stand by this program? In other words--and it's not a hypothetical, really--if you knew this program, knew about this program 90 days ago, 180 days ago, would you have allowed it to continue? And if not, then what are you going to do about the people who did know and allowed it to continue?"
Holder answered: "Well, what I have told people at the Department of Justice is that under no circumstances in any case that any investigation that we bring should guns be allowed to be distributed in an uncontrolled manner."
Issa followed: "So that would be cognizant with the March 9th letter from Deputy Attorney General James Cole in which he says that we should not design or conduct undercover operations which include guns crossing the border. If we have knowledge that guns are about to cross the border, we must take immediate action to stop the firearms from crossing the border, and so on. That's--that's your policy today."
Holder says: "That has--that is our policy. That has totally been the policy that I tried to impose."
Issa then asked: "And isn't Fast and Furious inconsistent with that policy?"
Holder answered: "Well, that's one of the questions that we'll have to see whether or not Fast and Furious was conducted in a way that's consistent with what Jim wrote there, what I have said today. And that's what the inspector general is, in fact, looking at."
June 16, 2011: Issa told CNSNews.com he believes Holder knew about the operation earlier than he testified.
"We believe he [Holder] was aware of it much earlier than he says in his testimony and questioning before the Judiciary Committee," Issa said. Issa later added: "Are we confident that Eric Holder knew it much earlier? No. Did he know it earlier than he testified? Absolutely."
June 15, 2011: The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in conjunction with the staff of Sen. Grassley, released a report on Operation Fast and Furious. On that day, the House oversight committee held a hearing on the matter. Four ATF agents testified about their opposition to the operation.
At the hearing, Chairman Issa questioned Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich about the letter he sent to Sen. Grassley on Feb. 4 in which Weich said it was "false" that the Justice Department had "knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them to Mexico."
"You made a statement in that letter that you signed on the 4th that said: ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico," said Issa. "Who prepared that line in your letter? You signed it, who prepared it? Was it you?"
"These letters are the product of the Justice Department," Weich responded.
"So your signature on that letter doesn't mean that you know it to be true, is that correct?" asked Issa.
"I take ultimate responsibility," said Weich.
"Okay," said Issa. "Isn't that statement false now with what you know?"
"Obviously, there have been allegations that call into serious question that particular sentence," said Weich.
"Weren't there documents that now have been provided and made public that let you know that that statement was false?" asked Issa.
"And that's why you're investigating and that's why we're investigating," said Weich.
Replied Issa: "I just take your agreement that those documents indicate that that statement that you signed that someone prepared for your signature were false?
"Congressman, I am not prepared to say that at this time," said Weich. "Everything that we say is true to the best of our knowledge at the time we say it. As more facts come out, obviously our understanding of the situation is enhanced."
June 27, 2011: White House Press Secretary Jay Carney could not provide the answer when CNSNews.com asked him for the exact date when President Obama first learned about Operation Fast and Furious. Carney responded, "I'll have to get back to you. I don't have an exact date for you." Carney also did not comment on whether the president believed Acting ATF Director Melson should resign from his position.
June 29, 2011: A reporter asked President Obama about the matter at a White House news conference. Obama responded, "As you know, my attorney general has made clear he certainly would not have ordered gun running to pass through into Mexico. The investigation is still pending. I'm not going to comment on the current investigation. I've made very clear my views that that would not be an appropriate step by the ATF, and we've got to find out how that happened. As soon as the investigation is complete, appropriate action will be taken."
July 4, 2011: Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson and speaks to congressional investigators from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Melson met with investigators with his personal attorney presentnot Justice Department attorneys.
July 5, 2011: Chairman Issa and Sen. Grassley wrote a letter to Attorney General Holder about Melson's testimony. The letter says Melson "claimed that ATF's senior leadership would have preferred to be more cooperative with our inquiry much earlier in the process. However, he said that Justice Department officials directed them not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress. The result is that Congress only got the parts of the story that the (Justice) Department wanted us to hear. If his account is accurate, then ATF leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled while the DOJ sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand. That approach distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation. The Department's inability or unwillingness to be more forthcoming served to conceal critical information that we are now learning about the involvement of other agencies, including the DEA and the FBI."
The Issa-Grassley letter to Holder further says that contrary to earlier denials by the Justice Department, Melson acknowledged that ATF agents had in fact witnessed transfers of weapons from straw purchasers to third parties without following the guns any further. Melson also said that ATF agents carrying out Operation Fast and Furious had been placed under the direction of the Arizona U.S. Attorney's office.
***
"straw buyers" had criminal backgrounds...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-PtJAjD4...dded#at=44
"You cannot sanction the violation of federal law by enabling or co-enabling prohibited persons, which includes felony convictions, from purchasing firearms," said Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), a former federal prosecutor and a member of the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee...
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"Grenadegate." "Worse Than Gunwalker?" Nah, but you are supposed to think so. Caveat lector -- let the reader beware.
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.c...r-nah.html
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Embassy kept in dark as guns flooded Mexico
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-...1661.story
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Guns from botched US operation found at Mexican crime scenes
Revelation blow to Obama administration as at least 122 weapons from undercover operation traced across border
Reuters in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 July 2011 10.16 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul...xico-drugs
*****
Investigative journalist and Second Amendment analyst Mike Vanderboegh says the witnesses probably will name names.
"There are names within Justice, not just in the ATF, that come up time and again in this. One of them is Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer. I rather suspect that his name will be mentioned this time," Vanderboegh said. Breuer was one of President Clinton's lawyers during Clinton's impeachment.
Vanderboegh said it looks like the government itself, from the highest level, was trying to undermine the Constitution.
"They're gradually building a case for a much wider, national conspiracy. By the end of this process, they'll be able to prove that orders came from the very top," Vanderboegh said.
The Project Gunrunner, or "Operation Fast and Furious," investigation is moving to the next level with hearings set this week in which the border agents who worked in the field while weapons were being dispatched to Mexican drug lords will testify.
"This hearing will focus mainly on how Mexican officials and ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) officials stationed in Mexico were kept in the dark on Operation Fast and Furious," said Becca Watkins, a spokeswoman for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The controversy is over a program set up by the federal government that reportedly allowed banned individuals to buy hundreds, maybe thousands, of guns with the knowledge they probably would be taken to Mexico and used in that nation's drug-related violence.
Investigative journalist and Second Amendment analyst Mike Vanderboegh says the witnesses probably will name names.
"There are names within Justice, not just in the ATF, that come up time and again in this. One of them is Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer. I rather suspect that his name will be mentioned this time," Vanderboegh said. Breuer was one of President Clinton's lawyers during Clinton's impeachment.
Vanderboegh said it looks like the government itself, from the highest level, was trying to undermine the Constitution.
"They're gradually building a case for a much wider, national conspiracy. By the end of this process, they'll be able to prove that orders came from the very top," Vanderboegh said.
"They're also building a case showing that Fast and Furious was only one component of a much larger plan. I believe that's what's going to happen," he said.
U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told San Diego talk-radio host Roger Hedgecock that this phase of the hearings will focus on Mexico.
Vanderboegh said an important part of these hearings will feature ATF agents who began to make noise about the operation in Mexico.
"The hearings are going to deal with how the attachés in Mexico were severely limited by headquarters and how they were kept in the dark how they were lied to," Vanderboegh said....
"The thing that everyone has been speculating on and waiting for is an Alexander Butterfield Moment," Vanderboegh said.
Alexander Butterfield was the Navy officer and assistant to H.R. Haldeman during the Nixon administration who revealed the existence of the White House tapes and taping system.
Historians and political analysts speculate that Butterfield's revelations led to President Nixon's resignation.
"At some point we are going to see, I predict, in this scandal, an Alexander Butterfield moment, where someone asks the question, that is critical, takes this thing all the way to the top, and the witness does one of two things," Vanderboegh said.
"He either takes the Fifth (the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution that protects a witness against self-incrimination), which in any case points in the direction for where the evidence goes, or he tells the truth," Vanderboegh said.
"And if he tells the truth, upon that truth, the Obama administration will fall ultimately," he asserted.
Vanderboegh suggested that the other major issues surrounding the Obama administration have not gained public traction because the pressure has not come from the people.
He added that the voters have to be diligent to ensure that any facts brought out by the hearings are publicly pursued.
"Nothing will ensure that Obama is held accountable except the American people and their demand that we get to the bottom of this. This is a bottom-up scandal. I mean, it was broken by alternate media on the internet," Vanderboegh observed.
"The ATF agents themselves broke it on their web site and [it was] picked up by me and David Codrea. Then we used that information to get U. S. senators to send people out to talk to the Whistleblower agents," Vanderboegh said.
Vanderboegh is also realistic about the process that will lead to the Obama administration being held accountable because of the American people's lack of indignation.
"They're hardly indignant at all, because they don't quite understand the truth," Vanderboegh explained.
Read more: Witnesses to ATF gunrunner operation to name names http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=326029#ixzz1TFOBdtig
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http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.c...-gets.html
Just one of Gunwalker Bill Newell's emails that lead straight to the side door of the White House.
Well, today actually started out sometime before this email, but here is a good enough place to start:
-----Original Message-----
From: georgemason1776
To: brian_downey; henry.kerner
Sent: Sat, Jul 23, 2011 8:34 pm
Subject: re: Fast & Furious emails between ATF Phoenix SAC William Newell and Dr. Kevin O'Reilly, Director of North American Affairs, National Security Council
Gentlemen,
As the Internet journalist who broke the Gunwalker Scandal on 28 December and who first drew the attention of Senator Jeff Sessions' office to the need for whistleblower protection for Phoenix ATF agents such as John Dodson, sources told me this weekend that your joint investigation possesses e-mails between ATF Phoenix SAC William Newell and Dr. Kevin O'Reilly, Director of North American Affairs, National Security Council.
Dr. O'Reilly's professional background (attached, obtained on the Internet) states he has been a Foreign Service Officer for 22 years, whose most recent responsibilities include coordinating counter-terrorism issues in Latin America for the Department of State and the National Security Council. You will note there is a gap from 1989 to 1995 in his background, before he studied at the Naval War College in 1996-97, after which he embarked on a series of short-term assignments. One of these was as a Pearson Fellow in the office of one of your colleagues, Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois.
Different sources of my own within the U.S. intelligence community who have reviewed the foregoing, consider the e-mails between Mr. Newell and Dr. O'Reilly and their professional positions and duties to be reminiscent of the back-channel communications employed by then-Col. Oliver North, empowered by what was jokingly referred to as a "Fuhrer letter" from then-National Security Adviser John Poindexter. This authorized North to operate outside established channels to implement Iran-Contra mischief. In the opinion of my sources, the highly irregular direct communication between a senior advisor on the National Security Council and a lowly ATF Special Agent in Charge reeks of executive branch misconduct. It would be, if as true as my sources say it is, "felony stupid."
Since SAC Newell will be testifying under oath before the Committee on Tuesday, there is an opportunity for Mr. Newell to explain his own understanding of the communications between himself, Dr. O'Reilly, and the National Security Council; how they relate to Fast & Furious; and thus enable the Committee and the American people to better understand the genesis of Fast & Furious and the role of the White House. This opportunity also affords the Committee the chance to appropriately define the inquiry, and to illuminate the darker recesses of the Gunwalker Scandal debacle before the inevitable speculation that will arise in the press and on the Internet as this information becomes more fully understood.
While I reside in Alabama, I am currently here in the DC area staying at the residence of my friend Larry Pratt, Executive Director of Gun Owners.of America. We plan to be on Capitol Hill to meet with certain congressional offices on Monday morning, and I am writing to you because I would like to personally discuss other aspects of the information discussed above. I would like to talk with you personally at your earliest possible convenience, and will be calling your office early on Monday morning to see if a mutually convenient meeting time can be arranged.
Sincerely,
Mike Vanderboegh
In about a half hour on that Saturday night we received the following reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Kerner, Henry
To: georgemason1776 ; brian_downey
Sent: Sat, Jul 23, 2011 9:06 pm
Subject: RE: Fast & Furious emails between ATF Phoenix SAC William Newell and Dr. Kevin O'Reilly, Director of North American Affairs, National Security Council
Dear Mr. Vanderboegh:
Thank you for your e-mail from earlier this evening. Members of Chairman Issa's staff are available to meet with you on Monday morning. Would 10 o'clock work for you? Please let me know if that time is convenient.
Thank you,
Henry
This was the information contained in the attachment:
From Linked In
Kevin O'Reilly's Experience
Director of North American Affairs
U.S. National Security Council
Government Administration industry
2009 June 2011 (2 years)
Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorsim
U.S. Department of State
Government Agency; International Affairs industry
September 2007 May 2009 (1 year 9 months)
Foreign Service Officer
United States Department of State
Government Administration industry
November 1987 2009 (22 years)
Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism
Director Latin American Affairs
Department of Homeland Security
Government Administration industry
2006 2007 (1 year)
Pearson Fellow
Office of Senator Richard J. Durbin
Government Administration industry
2005 2006 (1 year)
Deputy Political Counselor
US Embassy, Mexico CIty
Government Agency; 201-500 employees; Government Administration industry
2003 2005 (2 years)
Officer-in Charge, Colombian Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Government Agency; 10,001+ employees; International Affairs industry
2002 2003 (1 year)
Executive Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Government Agency; 10,001+ employees; International Affairs industry
2001 2002 (1 year)
Officer-in Charge, Iberian Affairs, NATO Division, J-5
Joint Staff
Government Agency; 1001-5000 employees; Military industry
2000 2001 (1 year)
Political Affairs Officer
US Embassy, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Government Agency; 201-500 employees; Government Administration industry
1997 2000 (3 years)
Kevin O'Reilly's Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Fellow, MIT Seminar XXI - international relations and the national interest
2001 2002
Naval War College
MA
1996 1997
Loyola University Chicago School of Law
JD, Law
1985 1988
The Johns Hopkins University - Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) (MBV: http://www.jhu.edu/ ) (MBV: http://www.sais-jhu.edu/ )
M.A, International Relations
1984 1986
Activities and Societies: Bologna Center, 1983-1984
Loyola University of Chicago (MBV: http://www.luc.edu/ )
BA, History
1979 1983
Activities and Societies: Loyola University Rome Center - (MBV: http://www.luc.edu/romecenter/ )
On Monday morning Larry and I met with three guys from the Committee. The meeting was on the condition of "Off the Record," hence it is off the record and will not be reported on. I will say that we left without any more information than we had going in. We were by no means certain that the committee would be asking Newell about O'Reilly.
Mr. O'Reilly's name had come to our attention last week. We immediately began gathering anecdotal information, although we could find precious little. One source called him "a ghost," and another said he had been "sheep-dipped." A third said he was a doctrinaire liberal, while a fourth denied that but described him variously as a "snake in a suit," a "sociopath" and said O'Reilly's nickname was "The Scorpion," as in the story of The Frog and the Scorpion.
(I would like to take this opportunity to ask any of our readers to contribute any other information they might have on Mr. O'Reilly. I rather suspect that today's hearing will not be the last that his name will come up at.)
Anyway, just as the first O'Reilly question was being asked of "Gunwalker Bill" about O'Reilly, I fell afoul of a Justice Department harridan with a law degree, who apparently complained that I was harrassing her. (I had asked her to pass down O'Reilly's bio to Newell's DOJ lawyer to ask the boy for an interview and she took exception to it.)
So I sat out in the hall, exulting in the knowledge that they actually HAD asked the $1.1 billion dollar question and wondering where I was going to get something to eat because my sugar was low.
At this point i was ambushed by a Media Matters puke who claimed that I had told "lies" about the Tampa gunwalking incident being part of Operation Castaway.
Like I said, low sugar. I was cranky, and after my umpteenth recital of the facts with his cell phone in my face I believe I called him a bad word, something that started with c and ended with sucker. I can't wait until I see THAT video. My momma would not be proud.
Anyway, I tried to escape him by going back into the hearing, they wouoldn't let me (having been previously banned) so I went down to get something to eat. Only had pocket money for a cookie, but that was enough to tide me over.
So I sat in the cafeteria and made phone calls until Larry came down for a break, then he went back to the hearing and I sat in the hallway by an overflowing garbage can. It stank.
Now THIS, I thought, is an excellent metaphor for Mordor-on-the-Potomac.
Anyway, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what happened for the best part of the hearing (other than seeing enough of Newell to recognize that he too is a sociopath, and maybe a psycopath).
A fun time was had by all.
Going home tomorrow having done as much damage as I could to the Evil Empire.
There is no evidence that the committee asked these questions because of Larry's and my urging. Obviously, it didn't hurt.
****
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.c...ys-he.html
CBS Reports:
At a lengthy hearing on ATF's controversial gunwalking operation today, a key ATF manager told Congress he discussed the case with a White House National Security staffer as early as September 2010. The communications were between ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office, Bill Newell, and White House National Security Director for North America Kevin O'Reilly. Newell said the two are longtime friends. The content of what Newell shared with O'Reilly is unclear and wasn't fully explored at the hearing.
It's the first time anyone has publicly stated that a White House official had any familiarity with ATF's operation Fast and Furious, which allowed thousands of weapons to fall into the hands of suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels in an attempt to gain intelligence. It's unknown as to whether O'Reilly shared information with anybody else at the White House.
Congressional investigators obtained an email from Newell to O'Reilly in September of last year in which Newell began with the words: "you didn't get this from me."
"What does that mean," one member of Congress asked Newell, " 'you didn't get this from me?' "
"Obviously he was a friend of mine," Newell replied, "and I shouldn't have been sending that to him."
Newell told Congress that O'Reilly had asked him for information.
"Why do you think he asked for that information," Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) asked Newell.
"He was asking about the impact of Project Gunrunner to brief people in preparation for a trip to Mexico... what we were doing to combat firearms trafficking and other issues."
Today, a White House spokesman said the email was not about Fast and Furious, but about other gun trafficking efforts. The spokesman also said he didn't know what Newell was referring to when he said he'd spoken to O'Reilly about Fast and Furious.
**** ****
TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2011
David Codrea: ATF's Phoenix SAC emailed Gunwalker info to National Security Council.
An exchange between House Committee on Oversight and Reform Committee members and William Newell, former Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive's Phoenix Field Division during this morning's hearings on Operation Fast and Furious pointed to key information that may be the most important to come out of today's session.
Exactly correct. http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-na...ty-council
Transcript of Newell questioning related to NSC's O'Reilly http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-na...s-o-reilly
Posted by Dutchman6 at 4:34 PM
1 comments:
Mickey Collins said...
More F&F type activity?
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/...42434.html
As a result of the 2010 emergency supplemental appropriation for border security, ATF received $37.5 million for Project Gunrunner, ATF's comprehensive firearms trafficking strategy to disrupt the illegal flow of firearms into Mexico. With this funding, ATF will establish and place firearms trafficking groups along traditional and newly-discovered firearms trafficking routes and hubs in Atlanta; Dallas; Brownsville, Texas; Las Vegas; Miami; Oklahoma City; and Sierra Vista, Ariz.
July 26, 2011 5:56 PM
***
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.c...t-fbi.html
As predicted here at Sipsey Street, the FBI starts to spin their own meme with leaks. A copy of the FBI document shows ballistics tests did not rule out the Fast and Furious guns in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry. [ See http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/...8389.story ]
****
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2011
Appropriations Committee calls for independent Gunwalker investigation
"[T]he House Appropriations Committee included report language in the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill (H.R. 2596; H. Rept. 112-169) that recommends the appointment of 'an outside, independent investigator,' who would be charged with conducting 'a thorough investigation of the allegations against ATF with respect to Operation Fast and Furious and policies guiding this and similar operations.'" [More]
This evening's Gun Rights Examiner report looks at where things probably need to go next.
****
http://www.waronguns.blogspot.com/
There's bunches of Gunwalker hearing videos in the Oversight and Reform channel sidebar
http://www.youtube.com/user/oversightandreform
Gun Rights Examiner report
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-na...vid-codrea
***
"former ATF attaché to Mexico, Darren Gil and his deputy, Carlos Canino confirm reports made early on by Gun Rights Examiner and Sipsey Street Irregulars that not only was this information withheld from them, but also from the Mexican governmentdespite repeated questioning and objections leading to "screaming matches" registered with management...."
"Canino characterized the gunwalking as "the perfect storm of idiocy"
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-na...z1TOGHNBHd
Posted by David Codrea at 7/27/2011 07:17:00 PM
****
Transcript of Newell questioning related to NSC's O'Reilly
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-na...z1TOH1AOQ9
Thursday, July 07, 2011
By Fred Lucas
(CNSNews.com) - Operation Fast and Furious was a program carried out by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a division of the U.S. Justice Department.
In this operation, which began in the fall of 2009 and continued into early 2011, the federal government purposefully allowed known or suspected gun smugglers to purchase guns at federally licensed firearms dealers in Arizona. The government did not seek to abort these gun purchases, intercept the smugglers after the purchases, or recover the guns they had purchased.
In some cases, as the government expected they would, the smugglers delivered the guns to Mexican drug trafficking organizations.
The reported purpose of the operation was to track and uncover the entirety of the smuggling operations so they could be completely shutdown. However, two rifles sold to a smuggler in the course of Operation Fast and Furious in January 2010 ended up at the scene of the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.
The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.), and Sen. Charles Grassley (R.-Iowa), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, are currently investigating the operation.
Here is a timeline based on information the congressional investigation has so far uncovered.
Operation Fast and Furious Timeline:
September 2009 Jan. 8, 2010: A Jan. 8, 2010 briefing paper from the ATF Phoenix Field Division Group VII says: "This investigation has currently identified more than 20 individual connected straw purchasers." It further says: "To date (September 2009 present) this group has purchased in excess of 650 firearms (mainly AK-47 variants) for which they have paid cash totaling more than $350,000."
October 2009: The ATF's Phoenix Field Division establishes a gun trafficking group called Group VII. Group VII initially began using the strategy of "gunwalking," or allowing suspects to walk away with illegally purchased guns, according to a report by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the staff of Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"The purpose was to wait and watch, in hope that law enforcement could identify other members of a trafficking network and build a large, complex conspiracy case," the report says. It goes on to say: "Group VII initially began using the new gunwalking tactics in one of its investigations to further the Department's strategy. The case was soon renamed Operation Fast and Furious.'"
Nov. 25, 2009: The ATF began conducting surveillance of Jaime Avila as early as this date, according to the congressional report.
Early December 2009: "It should be noted that since early December, efforts to slow down' the pace of these firearms purchases have succeeded and will continue but not to the detriment of the larger goal of the investigation," the ATF briefing paper from Jan. 8, 2010 says. "It should also be noted that the pace of firearms procurement by this straw purchasing group from late September to early December 2009 defied the normal' pace of procurement by other firearms trafficking groups investigated by this and other field divisions. The blitz' was extremely out of the ordinary and created a situation where measures had to be enacted in order to slow this pace down in order to perfect a criminal case."
Jan. 4-Jan. 8, 2010: There were three recorded phone calls during this period "between the most prolific suspected straw-purchaser and the Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL)," according to the ATF briefing paper. "These conversations have been to schedule future purchases of AK-47 variant riffles. The anticipated purchase is about forty (40) rifles."
Jan. 5, 2010: ATF agents met with Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Emory Hurley, the lead prosecutor in the matter, according to the briefing paper. The briefing paper says: "a determination was made that there was minimal evidence at this time to support any type of prosecution; therefore, additional firearms purchases should be monitored and additional evidence continued to be gathered."
Further, US Attorney for the District of Arizona Dennis Burke was briefed on this day. Burke "concurs with the assessment of his line prosecutors and fully supports the continuation of the investigation," the briefing paper says. The paper goes on to say that then head of the ATF Phoenix Field Division, Special Agent in Charge William Newell, "has repeatedly met with the USA Burke regarding the on-going status of this investigation and both are in full agreement with the current investigative strategy."
Jan. 8, 2010: The aforementioned briefing paper from the ATF Phoenix Field Division sheds further light on the operation:
--The paper makes clear: "Currently our strategy is to allow the transfer of firearms to continue to take place, albeit at a much slower pace, in order to further the investigation and allow for the identification of additional co-conspirators who would continue to operate and illegally traffic firearms to Mexican DTOs [Drug Trafficking Organizations]."
--The ATF worked with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Phoenix Ariz. "Surveillance operations are now being coordinated with information being obtained from the REDACTED. This is being coordinated out the of the Phoenix OCDETF Strike Force, of which Phoenix Group VII is a full-time member."
--"There have been five notable seizure events connected with this group, and approximately 53 firearms originally purchased by this group have been recovered. Three of these seizures have been in the Country of Mexico, one recovery in Douglas, AZ, and one recovery in Nogales, AZ. The U.S. recoveries were both believed to be destined for Mexico. It should be noted however that there has been one seizure in the Phoenix areas related to the ongoing DEA narcotics trafficking investigation."
--"The seizures referenced above were not from any member of the targeted group of straw purchasers identified in this investigation. Rather they were from Hispanic individuals (both male and female) whose association with our target group is currently unknown."
--"The ultimate goal is to secure [REDACTED] to identify and prosecute all co-conspirators of the DTO to include the 20 individual straw purchasers, the facilitators of the distribution cell centered here in Phoenix, the transportation cells taking firearms South, and ultimately to develop and provide prosecutable information to our Mexican law enforcement counterparts for actions."
Jan. 15, 2010: A joint strategy meeting was planned for this day, according to the Jan. 8, 2010 ATF document, with the representatives from the ATF, the DEA and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Jan. 16, 2010: Jaime Avila purchased three Romarm 7.62 rifles from Lone Wolfe Trading Company near Glendale, Ariz. According to the report, he also bought guns illegally in April and June of 2010.
Jan. 26, 2010: Operation Fast and Furious receives funding from the Justice Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF)
March 10, 2010: A memo from Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer authorizes a wire tap application as part of Operation Fast and Furious. The memo on the authorization was sent to Paul M. O'Brien, director of the Office of Enforcement Operation for the Criminal Division and to Emory Hurley, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona and the lead prosecutor in the operation.
March 10, 2010: An internal e-mail from George T. Gillett Jr., assistant special agent in charge to supervisor Voth and others said that ATF Acting Director Melson and ATF Deputy Director Billy Hoover "are being briefed weekly on this investigation and the recent success with REDACTED so they are both keenly interested in case updates."
March 11, 2010: An e-mail from Voth to Gillett, with the subject line "Director's questions" said, "Here are anwers to what I understand the director's questions to be. More detail can be provided upon request. I thought it best to start brief. 1.) IP Addresses for Pole Cameras: REDACTED User ID: REDACTED password: REDACTED This must be monitored from a stand-alone computer as ATF Network bandwidth does not permit continuous monitoring." In a news release in June, Rep. Issa said, "With this information, Acting Director Melson was able to sit at his desk in Washington and himself watch a live feed of straw buyers entering the gun stores and purchasing dozens of AK-47 variants."
March 12, 2010: David Voth, the Phoenix Group VII supervisor, sent an e-mail addressing the divide between field agents who wanted to halt the operation and the chain of command who supported the operation.
"Whether you care or not people of rank and authority at HQ are paying close attention to this case and they also believe we (Phoenix Group VII) are doing what they envisioned the Southwest Border Groups doing," Voth's e-mail said. "It may sound cheesy, but we are The Tip of the ATF spear' when it comes to Southwest Border Firearms Trafficking. We need to resolve our issues at this meeting. I will be damned if this case is going to suffer due to petty arguing, rumors or other adolescent behavior. If you don't think this is fun you're in the wrong line of work--period."
The Voth e-mail continued: "This is the pinnacle of U.S. law enforcement techniques. After this, the tool box is empty. Maybe the Maricopa County Jail is hiring detention officers and you can get paid $30,000 (instead of $100,000) to serve lunch to inmates all day."
April 2, 2010: David Voth, the Phoenix Group VII supervisor, sent an e-mail to a redacted recipient that says: "Our subjects purchased 359 firearms during the month of March alone, to include numerous Barrett .50 caliber riffles. I believe we are righteous in our plan to dismantle this entire organization and to rush in to arrest any one person without taking in to account the entire scope of the conspiracy would be ill advised to the overall good of the mission."
April 12, 2010: An e-mail from Voth to Gillett says that the next day, the ATF Deputy Assistant Director for Field Operations William McMahon will get a briefing on the operation.
Dec. 14, 2010: U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, 40, was murdered in Rio Rico, Ariz., by suspected operatives of a Mexican drug-smuggling organization. Police arrested four suspects in the murder.
Dec. 15, 2010: An e-mail exchange among ATF agents at 7:45 p.m. confirmed that the two of the weapons that Jaime Avila had purchased in January 2010 as part of Operation Fast and Furious were found at Terry's murder scene. The names on the e-mail were redacted.
"The two firearms recovered by ATF this afternoon near Rio Rico, Arizona, in conjunction with the shooting death of U.S. Border Patrol agent Terry were identified as Suspect Guns' in the Fast and Furious investigation [REDACTED]," the e-mail says. The e-mail stated the guns and serial numbers, and said: "I initiated an urgent firearms trace request on both of the firearms and then contacted the NTC to ensure the traces were conducted today."
December-January 2010: "According to Acting Director Melson, he became aware of this startling possibility [that guns were being smuggled into Mexico with the awareness of the ATF] only after the [December] murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and the[ January] indictments of the straw purchasers, which we now know were substantially delayed by the U.S. Attorney's Office and Main Justice," says a July 5, 2011 letter from Sen. Grassley and Rep. Issa to Attorney General Holder.
Jan. 8, 2011: U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is shot while meeting with constituents in Tucson. ATF agents were initially worried she might have been shot by a gun sold through Operation Fast and Furious. This turned out not to be the case. However, Pete Forcelli, a group supervisor with the ATF Phoenix Field Division who had warned about potential dangers of the program, told congressional investigators that after Terry was murdered many agents were on edge. "And then there was a sense like every other time, even with Ms. Giffords' shooting, there was a state of panic, like, oh, God, let's hope this is not a weapon from that case."
Jan. 19, 2011: Operation Fast and Furious results in the indictment of 20 straw purchasers, including Jaime Avila. That is the same number of straw purchasers that the ATF had identified as long as a year before this indictment. The Jan. 8, 2010 ATF briefing paper on the operation had said its goal was to prosecute "the 20 individual straw purchasers, the facilitators of the distribution cell centered here in Phoenix, the transportation cells taking firearms South." The indictment focused on the straw purchasers failing to provide accurate information on ATF Form 4473, which a purchaser must complete truthfully when buying a gun. According to the congressional report, the ATF had known that most of the indicted straw purchasers were in fact straw purchasers before Operation Fast and Furious began.
Jan. 25, 2011: Phoenix Special Agent in Charge William Newell held a press conference announcing the indictment of the 20 people as a result of Operation Fast and Furious. When asked if agents purposefully allowed weapons to enter Mexico, Newell says, "Hell, no."
Jan. 27, 2011: Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson that said: "Members of the Judiciary Committee have received numerous allegations that the ATF sanctioned the sale of hundreds of assault weapons to suspected straw purchasers, who then allegedly transported these weapons throughout the southwestern border area and into Mexico. According to these allegations, one of these individuals purchased three assault rifles with cash in Glendale, Arizona on January 16, 2010. Two of the weapons were then allegedly used in a firefight on December 14, 2010 against Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, killing CBP Agent Brian Terry."
Grassley requested that the ATF brief his staff on the matter.
Jan. 31, 2011: Grassley wrote a second letter to Melson that says whistleblowers were being targeted in the agency. "This is exactly the wrong sort of reaction for the ATF. Rather than focusing on retaliating against whistleblowers, the ATF's sole focus should be on findding and disclosing the truth as soon as possible."
The Grassley letter continued, "As you may be aware, obstructing a Congressional investigation is a crime. Additionally, denying or interfering with employees' rights to furnish information to Congress is also against the law. Federal officials who deny or interfere with employees' rights to furnish information to Congress are not entitled to have their salaries paid by taxpayers' dollars. Finally, ATF personnel have Constitutional rights to express their concerns to Congress under the First Amendment."
Feb. 1, 2011: In a story headlined, "Claims tie ATF sting to guns in shootout," The Arizona Republic reported on Grassley's pending investigation and on the whistleblower's allegations. Other media, such as The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times reported on this in the following days.
Feb. 4, 2011: Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote Grassley denying that the Justice Department knowingly "sanctioned" the sale of guns to people they believed were going to deliver them to Mexican drug cartels.
"At the outset, the allegation described in your January 27 letter--that ATF sanctioned' or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them to Mexico--is false," Weich wrote. "ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico."
Feb. 15, 2011: Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata is murdered in Mexico. The Associated Press later reported (on Feb. 28), based on an unnamed source, that the weapon used to kill Zapata "was shipped through Laredo with the possible knowledge of the ATF." The story continued that "the feds were already investigating the suspects when the gun was sent to Mexico." The matter was separate from Operation Fast and Furious, but was under the same umbrella as part of the larger Project Gunrunner.
Feb. 23, 2011: CBS Evening News airs its first piece on Operation Fast and Furious that includes interviews with ATF whistleblowers who say they warned supervisors of potential problems.
March 8, 2011: The Justice Department informed Sen. Grassley that the matter would be reviewed by the DOJ's Office of Inspector General. In a letter to Grassley, Assistant Attorney General Weich wrote, "We appreciated your continuing concern about this matter. We have referred your letters to and the attached documents to the Department's Office of Inspector General."
March 10, 2011: At a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas) asked Holder about the matter.
"What is your view now on that particular program? And I know that you've asked for an IG study of it, but tell me if you think that that program should be continued. Is it the correct use of the Project Gunrunner subprogram, I guess? Because it--of course, it's a great concern."
Holder responded, "Well, first, I'd say that, you know, the mission of ATF and the mission to which they are dedicated is to stop the flow of guns into Mexico and to people who shouldn't have guns here in the United States. And that is the focus of ATF, and it is why ATF agents serve bravely in Mexico and in this country, and I think do a great job. It is true that there have been concerns expressed by ATF agents about the way in which this operation was conducted and I took those allegations, those concerns, very seriously, and asked the inspector general to try to get to the bottom of it. An investigation, an inquiry, is now under way.
"I've also made clear to people in the department that letting guns walk--I guess that's the term that the people use--that letting guns walk is not something that is acceptable. Guns are different than drug cases or cases where we're trying to follow where money goes. We cannot have a situation where guns are allowed to walk, and I've made that clear to the United States attorneys as well as the agents in charge in the various ATF offices."
March 11, 2011: The Contra Costa Times and other news organizations reported that the Mexican attorney general's office, known as the PGR, issued a statement that Mexican authorities were aware of the U.S. anti-gun operation that allowed smugglers to buy weapons under watch of U.S. agents, but that the Mexican government "had no knowledge of the existence of an operation that might include the transgression or controlled trafficking of arms to Mexican territory." The statement continued, "The government of Mexico has not given nor will it give its authorization, tacit or express, under any circumstance, for that to occur."
March 22, 2011: President Barack Obama was asked about Operation Fast and Furious on Univision, a Spanish language network.
"Well, first of all, I did not authorize it," Obama told Univision. "Eric Holder, the attorney general, did not authorize it. There may be a situation here in which a serious mistake was made. If that's the case, then we'll find-- find out and we'll hold somebody accountable."
March 2011: ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson says "he told the Office of Deputy Attorney General at the end of March that the Department needed to reexamine how it was responding to the request for information from Congress," according to a July 5 letter from Rep. Issa and Sen. Grassley to Attorney General Holder.
May 3, 2011: Holder testified to the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Holder had an exchange about Operation Fast and Furious. Under questioning from Issa, Holder said he was not sure of the exact date he first heard of the operation, but said it was "probably … over the last few weeks." Holder also could not say who authorized the operation.
Issa asked: "When did you first know about the program officially, I believe, called Fast and Furious? To the best of your knowledge, what date?"
Holder answered: "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks."
Issa followed: "Now that you've been briefed on it, the president has said on March 22 that you didn't authorize it. Did your deputy attorney general, James Cole, authorize it?"
Holder answered: "I'm sorry. That would be?"
Issa repeated: "The deputy attorney general, James Cole."
Holder again acted puzzled: "Did he -- I didn't hear. Did he?"
Issa completed the question: "Did the deputy attorney general authorize it?"
Holder finally gave a less than clear answer: "My guess would be no. Mr. Cole, I don't think, was in theI--I think--I don't think he was in the department at the time that operation started."
Issa went on to ask: "How about the head of the Criminal Division, Lanny Breuer?"
Holder answered, "I'm not sure."
Issa followed; "Did he authorize it?"
Holder responded: "I'm not sure whether Mr. Breuer authorized it. I mean, you have to understand the way in which the department operates. Although there are--there are operations, this one has become--has gotten a great deal of publicity."
Issa later asked: "Do you stand by this program? In other words--and it's not a hypothetical, really--if you knew this program, knew about this program 90 days ago, 180 days ago, would you have allowed it to continue? And if not, then what are you going to do about the people who did know and allowed it to continue?"
Holder answered: "Well, what I have told people at the Department of Justice is that under no circumstances in any case that any investigation that we bring should guns be allowed to be distributed in an uncontrolled manner."
Issa followed: "So that would be cognizant with the March 9th letter from Deputy Attorney General James Cole in which he says that we should not design or conduct undercover operations which include guns crossing the border. If we have knowledge that guns are about to cross the border, we must take immediate action to stop the firearms from crossing the border, and so on. That's--that's your policy today."
Holder says: "That has--that is our policy. That has totally been the policy that I tried to impose."
Issa then asked: "And isn't Fast and Furious inconsistent with that policy?"
Holder answered: "Well, that's one of the questions that we'll have to see whether or not Fast and Furious was conducted in a way that's consistent with what Jim wrote there, what I have said today. And that's what the inspector general is, in fact, looking at."
June 16, 2011: Issa told CNSNews.com he believes Holder knew about the operation earlier than he testified.
"We believe he [Holder] was aware of it much earlier than he says in his testimony and questioning before the Judiciary Committee," Issa said. Issa later added: "Are we confident that Eric Holder knew it much earlier? No. Did he know it earlier than he testified? Absolutely."
June 15, 2011: The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in conjunction with the staff of Sen. Grassley, released a report on Operation Fast and Furious. On that day, the House oversight committee held a hearing on the matter. Four ATF agents testified about their opposition to the operation.
At the hearing, Chairman Issa questioned Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich about the letter he sent to Sen. Grassley on Feb. 4 in which Weich said it was "false" that the Justice Department had "knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them to Mexico."
"You made a statement in that letter that you signed on the 4th that said: ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico," said Issa. "Who prepared that line in your letter? You signed it, who prepared it? Was it you?"
"These letters are the product of the Justice Department," Weich responded.
"So your signature on that letter doesn't mean that you know it to be true, is that correct?" asked Issa.
"I take ultimate responsibility," said Weich.
"Okay," said Issa. "Isn't that statement false now with what you know?"
"Obviously, there have been allegations that call into serious question that particular sentence," said Weich.
"Weren't there documents that now have been provided and made public that let you know that that statement was false?" asked Issa.
"And that's why you're investigating and that's why we're investigating," said Weich.
Replied Issa: "I just take your agreement that those documents indicate that that statement that you signed that someone prepared for your signature were false?
"Congressman, I am not prepared to say that at this time," said Weich. "Everything that we say is true to the best of our knowledge at the time we say it. As more facts come out, obviously our understanding of the situation is enhanced."
June 27, 2011: White House Press Secretary Jay Carney could not provide the answer when CNSNews.com asked him for the exact date when President Obama first learned about Operation Fast and Furious. Carney responded, "I'll have to get back to you. I don't have an exact date for you." Carney also did not comment on whether the president believed Acting ATF Director Melson should resign from his position.
June 29, 2011: A reporter asked President Obama about the matter at a White House news conference. Obama responded, "As you know, my attorney general has made clear he certainly would not have ordered gun running to pass through into Mexico. The investigation is still pending. I'm not going to comment on the current investigation. I've made very clear my views that that would not be an appropriate step by the ATF, and we've got to find out how that happened. As soon as the investigation is complete, appropriate action will be taken."
July 4, 2011: Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson and speaks to congressional investigators from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Melson met with investigators with his personal attorney presentnot Justice Department attorneys.
July 5, 2011: Chairman Issa and Sen. Grassley wrote a letter to Attorney General Holder about Melson's testimony. The letter says Melson "claimed that ATF's senior leadership would have preferred to be more cooperative with our inquiry much earlier in the process. However, he said that Justice Department officials directed them not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress. The result is that Congress only got the parts of the story that the (Justice) Department wanted us to hear. If his account is accurate, then ATF leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled while the DOJ sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand. That approach distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation. The Department's inability or unwillingness to be more forthcoming served to conceal critical information that we are now learning about the involvement of other agencies, including the DEA and the FBI."
The Issa-Grassley letter to Holder further says that contrary to earlier denials by the Justice Department, Melson acknowledged that ATF agents had in fact witnessed transfers of weapons from straw purchasers to third parties without following the guns any further. Melson also said that ATF agents carrying out Operation Fast and Furious had been placed under the direction of the Arizona U.S. Attorney's office.
***
"straw buyers" had criminal backgrounds...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-PtJAjD4...dded#at=44
"You cannot sanction the violation of federal law by enabling or co-enabling prohibited persons, which includes felony convictions, from purchasing firearms," said Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), a former federal prosecutor and a member of the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee...
****
"Grenadegate." "Worse Than Gunwalker?" Nah, but you are supposed to think so. Caveat lector -- let the reader beware.
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.c...r-nah.html
****
Embassy kept in dark as guns flooded Mexico
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-...1661.story
*****
Guns from botched US operation found at Mexican crime scenes
Revelation blow to Obama administration as at least 122 weapons from undercover operation traced across border
Reuters in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 July 2011 10.16 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul...xico-drugs
*****
Investigative journalist and Second Amendment analyst Mike Vanderboegh says the witnesses probably will name names.
"There are names within Justice, not just in the ATF, that come up time and again in this. One of them is Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer. I rather suspect that his name will be mentioned this time," Vanderboegh said. Breuer was one of President Clinton's lawyers during Clinton's impeachment.
Vanderboegh said it looks like the government itself, from the highest level, was trying to undermine the Constitution.
"They're gradually building a case for a much wider, national conspiracy. By the end of this process, they'll be able to prove that orders came from the very top," Vanderboegh said.
The Project Gunrunner, or "Operation Fast and Furious," investigation is moving to the next level with hearings set this week in which the border agents who worked in the field while weapons were being dispatched to Mexican drug lords will testify.
"This hearing will focus mainly on how Mexican officials and ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) officials stationed in Mexico were kept in the dark on Operation Fast and Furious," said Becca Watkins, a spokeswoman for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The controversy is over a program set up by the federal government that reportedly allowed banned individuals to buy hundreds, maybe thousands, of guns with the knowledge they probably would be taken to Mexico and used in that nation's drug-related violence.
Investigative journalist and Second Amendment analyst Mike Vanderboegh says the witnesses probably will name names.
"There are names within Justice, not just in the ATF, that come up time and again in this. One of them is Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer. I rather suspect that his name will be mentioned this time," Vanderboegh said. Breuer was one of President Clinton's lawyers during Clinton's impeachment.
Vanderboegh said it looks like the government itself, from the highest level, was trying to undermine the Constitution.
"They're gradually building a case for a much wider, national conspiracy. By the end of this process, they'll be able to prove that orders came from the very top," Vanderboegh said.
"They're also building a case showing that Fast and Furious was only one component of a much larger plan. I believe that's what's going to happen," he said.
U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told San Diego talk-radio host Roger Hedgecock that this phase of the hearings will focus on Mexico.
Vanderboegh said an important part of these hearings will feature ATF agents who began to make noise about the operation in Mexico.
"The hearings are going to deal with how the attachés in Mexico were severely limited by headquarters and how they were kept in the dark how they were lied to," Vanderboegh said....
"The thing that everyone has been speculating on and waiting for is an Alexander Butterfield Moment," Vanderboegh said.
Alexander Butterfield was the Navy officer and assistant to H.R. Haldeman during the Nixon administration who revealed the existence of the White House tapes and taping system.
Historians and political analysts speculate that Butterfield's revelations led to President Nixon's resignation.
"At some point we are going to see, I predict, in this scandal, an Alexander Butterfield moment, where someone asks the question, that is critical, takes this thing all the way to the top, and the witness does one of two things," Vanderboegh said.
"He either takes the Fifth (the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution that protects a witness against self-incrimination), which in any case points in the direction for where the evidence goes, or he tells the truth," Vanderboegh said.
"And if he tells the truth, upon that truth, the Obama administration will fall ultimately," he asserted.
Vanderboegh suggested that the other major issues surrounding the Obama administration have not gained public traction because the pressure has not come from the people.
He added that the voters have to be diligent to ensure that any facts brought out by the hearings are publicly pursued.
"Nothing will ensure that Obama is held accountable except the American people and their demand that we get to the bottom of this. This is a bottom-up scandal. I mean, it was broken by alternate media on the internet," Vanderboegh observed.
"The ATF agents themselves broke it on their web site and [it was] picked up by me and David Codrea. Then we used that information to get U. S. senators to send people out to talk to the Whistleblower agents," Vanderboegh said.
Vanderboegh is also realistic about the process that will lead to the Obama administration being held accountable because of the American people's lack of indignation.
"They're hardly indignant at all, because they don't quite understand the truth," Vanderboegh explained.
Read more: Witnesses to ATF gunrunner operation to name names http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=326029#ixzz1TFOBdtig
****
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.c...-gets.html
Just one of Gunwalker Bill Newell's emails that lead straight to the side door of the White House.
Well, today actually started out sometime before this email, but here is a good enough place to start:
-----Original Message-----
From: georgemason1776
To: brian_downey; henry.kerner
Sent: Sat, Jul 23, 2011 8:34 pm
Subject: re: Fast & Furious emails between ATF Phoenix SAC William Newell and Dr. Kevin O'Reilly, Director of North American Affairs, National Security Council
Gentlemen,
As the Internet journalist who broke the Gunwalker Scandal on 28 December and who first drew the attention of Senator Jeff Sessions' office to the need for whistleblower protection for Phoenix ATF agents such as John Dodson, sources told me this weekend that your joint investigation possesses e-mails between ATF Phoenix SAC William Newell and Dr. Kevin O'Reilly, Director of North American Affairs, National Security Council.
Dr. O'Reilly's professional background (attached, obtained on the Internet) states he has been a Foreign Service Officer for 22 years, whose most recent responsibilities include coordinating counter-terrorism issues in Latin America for the Department of State and the National Security Council. You will note there is a gap from 1989 to 1995 in his background, before he studied at the Naval War College in 1996-97, after which he embarked on a series of short-term assignments. One of these was as a Pearson Fellow in the office of one of your colleagues, Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois.
Different sources of my own within the U.S. intelligence community who have reviewed the foregoing, consider the e-mails between Mr. Newell and Dr. O'Reilly and their professional positions and duties to be reminiscent of the back-channel communications employed by then-Col. Oliver North, empowered by what was jokingly referred to as a "Fuhrer letter" from then-National Security Adviser John Poindexter. This authorized North to operate outside established channels to implement Iran-Contra mischief. In the opinion of my sources, the highly irregular direct communication between a senior advisor on the National Security Council and a lowly ATF Special Agent in Charge reeks of executive branch misconduct. It would be, if as true as my sources say it is, "felony stupid."
Since SAC Newell will be testifying under oath before the Committee on Tuesday, there is an opportunity for Mr. Newell to explain his own understanding of the communications between himself, Dr. O'Reilly, and the National Security Council; how they relate to Fast & Furious; and thus enable the Committee and the American people to better understand the genesis of Fast & Furious and the role of the White House. This opportunity also affords the Committee the chance to appropriately define the inquiry, and to illuminate the darker recesses of the Gunwalker Scandal debacle before the inevitable speculation that will arise in the press and on the Internet as this information becomes more fully understood.
While I reside in Alabama, I am currently here in the DC area staying at the residence of my friend Larry Pratt, Executive Director of Gun Owners.of America. We plan to be on Capitol Hill to meet with certain congressional offices on Monday morning, and I am writing to you because I would like to personally discuss other aspects of the information discussed above. I would like to talk with you personally at your earliest possible convenience, and will be calling your office early on Monday morning to see if a mutually convenient meeting time can be arranged.
Sincerely,
Mike Vanderboegh
In about a half hour on that Saturday night we received the following reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Kerner, Henry
To: georgemason1776 ; brian_downey
Sent: Sat, Jul 23, 2011 9:06 pm
Subject: RE: Fast & Furious emails between ATF Phoenix SAC William Newell and Dr. Kevin O'Reilly, Director of North American Affairs, National Security Council
Dear Mr. Vanderboegh:
Thank you for your e-mail from earlier this evening. Members of Chairman Issa's staff are available to meet with you on Monday morning. Would 10 o'clock work for you? Please let me know if that time is convenient.
Thank you,
Henry
This was the information contained in the attachment:
From Linked In
Kevin O'Reilly's Experience
Director of North American Affairs
U.S. National Security Council
Government Administration industry
2009 June 2011 (2 years)
Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorsim
U.S. Department of State
Government Agency; International Affairs industry
September 2007 May 2009 (1 year 9 months)
Foreign Service Officer
United States Department of State
Government Administration industry
November 1987 2009 (22 years)
Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism
Director Latin American Affairs
Department of Homeland Security
Government Administration industry
2006 2007 (1 year)
Pearson Fellow
Office of Senator Richard J. Durbin
Government Administration industry
2005 2006 (1 year)
Deputy Political Counselor
US Embassy, Mexico CIty
Government Agency; 201-500 employees; Government Administration industry
2003 2005 (2 years)
Officer-in Charge, Colombian Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Government Agency; 10,001+ employees; International Affairs industry
2002 2003 (1 year)
Executive Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Government Agency; 10,001+ employees; International Affairs industry
2001 2002 (1 year)
Officer-in Charge, Iberian Affairs, NATO Division, J-5
Joint Staff
Government Agency; 1001-5000 employees; Military industry
2000 2001 (1 year)
Political Affairs Officer
US Embassy, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Government Agency; 201-500 employees; Government Administration industry
1997 2000 (3 years)
Kevin O'Reilly's Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Fellow, MIT Seminar XXI - international relations and the national interest
2001 2002
Naval War College
MA
1996 1997
Loyola University Chicago School of Law
JD, Law
1985 1988
The Johns Hopkins University - Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) (MBV: http://www.jhu.edu/ ) (MBV: http://www.sais-jhu.edu/ )
M.A, International Relations
1984 1986
Activities and Societies: Bologna Center, 1983-1984
Loyola University of Chicago (MBV: http://www.luc.edu/ )
BA, History
1979 1983
Activities and Societies: Loyola University Rome Center - (MBV: http://www.luc.edu/romecenter/ )
On Monday morning Larry and I met with three guys from the Committee. The meeting was on the condition of "Off the Record," hence it is off the record and will not be reported on. I will say that we left without any more information than we had going in. We were by no means certain that the committee would be asking Newell about O'Reilly.
Mr. O'Reilly's name had come to our attention last week. We immediately began gathering anecdotal information, although we could find precious little. One source called him "a ghost," and another said he had been "sheep-dipped." A third said he was a doctrinaire liberal, while a fourth denied that but described him variously as a "snake in a suit," a "sociopath" and said O'Reilly's nickname was "The Scorpion," as in the story of The Frog and the Scorpion.
(I would like to take this opportunity to ask any of our readers to contribute any other information they might have on Mr. O'Reilly. I rather suspect that today's hearing will not be the last that his name will come up at.)
Anyway, just as the first O'Reilly question was being asked of "Gunwalker Bill" about O'Reilly, I fell afoul of a Justice Department harridan with a law degree, who apparently complained that I was harrassing her. (I had asked her to pass down O'Reilly's bio to Newell's DOJ lawyer to ask the boy for an interview and she took exception to it.)
So I sat out in the hall, exulting in the knowledge that they actually HAD asked the $1.1 billion dollar question and wondering where I was going to get something to eat because my sugar was low.
At this point i was ambushed by a Media Matters puke who claimed that I had told "lies" about the Tampa gunwalking incident being part of Operation Castaway.
Like I said, low sugar. I was cranky, and after my umpteenth recital of the facts with his cell phone in my face I believe I called him a bad word, something that started with c and ended with sucker. I can't wait until I see THAT video. My momma would not be proud.
Anyway, I tried to escape him by going back into the hearing, they wouoldn't let me (having been previously banned) so I went down to get something to eat. Only had pocket money for a cookie, but that was enough to tide me over.
So I sat in the cafeteria and made phone calls until Larry came down for a break, then he went back to the hearing and I sat in the hallway by an overflowing garbage can. It stank.
Now THIS, I thought, is an excellent metaphor for Mordor-on-the-Potomac.
Anyway, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what happened for the best part of the hearing (other than seeing enough of Newell to recognize that he too is a sociopath, and maybe a psycopath).
A fun time was had by all.
Going home tomorrow having done as much damage as I could to the Evil Empire.
There is no evidence that the committee asked these questions because of Larry's and my urging. Obviously, it didn't hurt.
****
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.c...ys-he.html
CBS Reports:
At a lengthy hearing on ATF's controversial gunwalking operation today, a key ATF manager told Congress he discussed the case with a White House National Security staffer as early as September 2010. The communications were between ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office, Bill Newell, and White House National Security Director for North America Kevin O'Reilly. Newell said the two are longtime friends. The content of what Newell shared with O'Reilly is unclear and wasn't fully explored at the hearing.
It's the first time anyone has publicly stated that a White House official had any familiarity with ATF's operation Fast and Furious, which allowed thousands of weapons to fall into the hands of suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels in an attempt to gain intelligence. It's unknown as to whether O'Reilly shared information with anybody else at the White House.
Congressional investigators obtained an email from Newell to O'Reilly in September of last year in which Newell began with the words: "you didn't get this from me."
"What does that mean," one member of Congress asked Newell, " 'you didn't get this from me?' "
"Obviously he was a friend of mine," Newell replied, "and I shouldn't have been sending that to him."
Newell told Congress that O'Reilly had asked him for information.
"Why do you think he asked for that information," Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) asked Newell.
"He was asking about the impact of Project Gunrunner to brief people in preparation for a trip to Mexico... what we were doing to combat firearms trafficking and other issues."
Today, a White House spokesman said the email was not about Fast and Furious, but about other gun trafficking efforts. The spokesman also said he didn't know what Newell was referring to when he said he'd spoken to O'Reilly about Fast and Furious.
**** ****
TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2011
David Codrea: ATF's Phoenix SAC emailed Gunwalker info to National Security Council.
An exchange between House Committee on Oversight and Reform Committee members and William Newell, former Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive's Phoenix Field Division during this morning's hearings on Operation Fast and Furious pointed to key information that may be the most important to come out of today's session.
Exactly correct. http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-na...ty-council
Transcript of Newell questioning related to NSC's O'Reilly http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-na...s-o-reilly
Posted by Dutchman6 at 4:34 PM
1 comments:
Mickey Collins said...
More F&F type activity?
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/...42434.html
As a result of the 2010 emergency supplemental appropriation for border security, ATF received $37.5 million for Project Gunrunner, ATF's comprehensive firearms trafficking strategy to disrupt the illegal flow of firearms into Mexico. With this funding, ATF will establish and place firearms trafficking groups along traditional and newly-discovered firearms trafficking routes and hubs in Atlanta; Dallas; Brownsville, Texas; Las Vegas; Miami; Oklahoma City; and Sierra Vista, Ariz.
July 26, 2011 5:56 PM
***
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.c...t-fbi.html
As predicted here at Sipsey Street, the FBI starts to spin their own meme with leaks. A copy of the FBI document shows ballistics tests did not rule out the Fast and Furious guns in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry. [ See http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/...8389.story ]
****
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2011
Appropriations Committee calls for independent Gunwalker investigation
"[T]he House Appropriations Committee included report language in the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill (H.R. 2596; H. Rept. 112-169) that recommends the appointment of 'an outside, independent investigator,' who would be charged with conducting 'a thorough investigation of the allegations against ATF with respect to Operation Fast and Furious and policies guiding this and similar operations.'" [More]
This evening's Gun Rights Examiner report looks at where things probably need to go next.
****
http://www.waronguns.blogspot.com/
There's bunches of Gunwalker hearing videos in the Oversight and Reform channel sidebar
http://www.youtube.com/user/oversightandreform
Gun Rights Examiner report
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-na...vid-codrea
***
"former ATF attaché to Mexico, Darren Gil and his deputy, Carlos Canino confirm reports made early on by Gun Rights Examiner and Sipsey Street Irregulars that not only was this information withheld from them, but also from the Mexican governmentdespite repeated questioning and objections leading to "screaming matches" registered with management...."
"Canino characterized the gunwalking as "the perfect storm of idiocy"
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-na...z1TOGHNBHd
Posted by David Codrea at 7/27/2011 07:17:00 PM
****
Transcript of Newell questioning related to NSC's O'Reilly
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-na...z1TOH1AOQ9
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"