ATF’s Fast and Furious scandal
A federal operation dubbed Fast and Furious allowed weapons from the U.S. to pass into the hands of suspected gun smugglers so the arms could be traced to the higher echelons of Mexican drug cartels. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which ran the operation, has lost track of hundreds of firearms, many of which have been linked to crimes, including the fatal shooting of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent
arrives for a memorial service for slain comrade Brian Terry on Jan.
21, 2011, in Tucson. Terry was killed during a shootout the month before
near the U.S.-Mexico Border. (John Moore / Getty Images)
Documents: ATF's 'Fast and Furious' paper trail
Emails, cables and reports on the Fast and Furious operation.
9:07 AM PDT, June 24, 2012
Issa: No evidence White House covered up 'Fast and Furious' fallout
WASHINGTON – House oversight committee chairman Darrell Issa said Sunday that he has no evidence the White House was involved in what could be a Justice Department "cover up” to contain fallout from the botched “Fast and Furious” operation.
June 24, 2012
Letters: Fast and Furious fallout
Re "Holder draws House panel's rebuke," and "Fast and Furious showdown," Editorial, June 21
5:22 PM PDT, June 20, 2012
What led to Fast and Furious rebuke of Holder?
WASHINGTON — The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has voted to pursue a contempt of Congress charge against Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. over his refusal to turn over documents related to the committee’s investigation of the Fast and Furious operation. Here is a look at the issues:
1:30 PM PDT, June 20, 2012
House panel recommends Holder be found in contempt of Congress
WASHINGTON -- The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform voted to find Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress for failing to provide subpoenaed documents in the flawed Fast and Furious gun-tracking case, just hours after President Obama asserted executive privilege and backed the attorney general’s refusal to release the material.
5:46 PM PDT, June 20, 2012
Atty. Gen. Eric Holder draws House panel's rebuke over Fast and Furious
WASHINGTON — A House committee voted along party lines to find Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress for failing to provide subpoenaed documents in the flawed Fast and Furious gun-tracking case, just hours after President Obama for the first time asserted executive privilege and backed the attorney general's refusal to release the material.
8:15 AM PDT, June 20, 2012
Obama asserts executive privilege
The Justice Dept says that President Barack Obama has asserted executive privilege to withhold documents a House committee is seeking in an investigation of a flawed gun-smuggling probe.
3:58 PM PDT, June 19, 2012
Negotiations break down between Holder, Issa over Fast and Furious
WASHINGTON — Last-minute talks to stave off a House committee vote finding Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress broke down when the attorney general failed to provide subpoenaed documents to the panel in its ongoing investigation into the ATF’s flawed Fast and Furious gun-tracking.
3:14 PM PDT, June 11, 2012
Panel sets vote on whether Eric Holder is in contempt of Congress
WASHINGTON -- Top House Republicans, saying the Department of Justice is “out of excuses,” scheduled a committee vote to hold Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress for refusing to provide subpoenaed documents in the ATF’s flawed Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation.
12:28 PM PDT, June 7, 2012
Eric Holder grilled over Fast and Furious in Congress
WASHINGTON -- One at a time, Rep. Darrell Issa held up a thick wiretap application form and slammed it on his dais in the elaborate House Judiciary Committee hearing room. Each time the Vista, Calif., Republican angrily read out loud the dates: May 15, 2010, April 19, 2010, May 7, 2010, May 17, 2010, June 2, 2010, and July 2, 2010. All of them, he said, “before Brian Terry was gunned down.”
June 1, 2012
Mexico left in the dark on Fast and Furious, ambassador says
WASHINGTON — The failed federal gun-tracking operation called Fast and Furious showed an "outstanding lack of understanding of how criminal organizations are operating on both sides of our common borders," the Mexican ambassador to the United States said.
2:33 PM PDT, March 28, 2012
Family of slain agent 'sickened' feds didn't share information
Family members of slain U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry said they were “sickened” by reports that federal law enforcement agencies on the Southwest border did not share information about their investigations, and believe Terry would be alive today had the ATF known that two top targets in their Fast and Furious case actually were FBIinformants.
8:39 AM PST, February 2, 2012
House GOP threatens to hold Holder in contempt over Fast and Furious
House Republicans investigating the Fast and Furious operation threatened Thursday to seek a contempt of Congress citation against Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., saying his Department of Justice has refused to turn over key documents in the Department of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms gun-tracking investigation and that the Obama administration is trying to hide its involvement in the program that allowed hundreds of U.S. weapons to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
11:24 AM PST, December 8, 2011
Atty. Gen. Holder accuses critics of politicizing 'Fast and Furious' case
Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., under fire for his Justice Department's Operation Fast and Furious, accused his Republican congressional critics of politicizing the failed gun-tracking program and warned that many of the more than 2,000 lost firearms will continue to show up on the southwest border "for years to come."
2:33 PM PST, November 9, 2011
Holder's 'Fast and Furious' testimony draws rebuke from victim's kin
The family of a slain border agent is blasting Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. for his repeated claims of ignorance about the tactics used in the botched "Fast and Furious" gun-trafficking sting.
8:26 AM PST, November 8, 2011
Holder decries 'gotcha games' in Fast and Furious testimony
Atty. Gen. Eric Holder on Tuesday called a botched gun-tracking scheme hatched by officials with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on the Southwest border “flawed in its concept, and flawed in its execution” in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
2:40 PM PDT, October 18, 2011
'Fast and Furious' provision clears Senate
In a stinging rebuke of the Obama administration and Attorney General Eric H. Holder, an amendment to prevent the Justice Department from conducting any future gun-tracking operations such as the failed "Fast and Furious" program in the future sailed unanimously through the Senate Tuesday.
6:01 PM PDT, October 12, 2011
Documents subpoenaed from Atty. Gen. Holder in 'Fast and Furious' probe
A leading House Republican investigating the ATF operation dubbed Fast and Furious subpoenaed documents from Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday, escalating the confrontation over the botched gun-tracing program.
8:46 PM PDT, October 8, 2011
Fast and Furious weapons were found in Mexico cartel enforcer's home
High-powered assault weapons illegally purchased under the ATF's Fast and Furious program in Phoenix ended up in a home belonging to the purported top Sinaloa cartel enforcer in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, whose organization was terrorizing that city with the worst violence in the Mexican drug wars.
5:37 PM PDT, October 7, 2011
Atty. Gen. Holder strikes back at GOP critics
Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. confronted a week of allegations that he had misled Congress about his knowledge of the failed Fast and Furious gun-tracking program, lashing out at his Republican critics and contending that he knew nothing about secret tactics to allow illegal arms sales on the Southwest border.
6:37 PM PDT, October 6, 2011
President Obama defends attorney general regarding ATF tactics
President Obama insists neither he nor Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. knew federal ATF agents were permitting illegal gun purchases on the Southwest border, even as Republican lawmakers released new documents showing the attorney general was given general briefings on the Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation.
3:04 PM PDT, October 5, 2011
ATF officials reassigned in latest Fast and Furious fallout
Two top supervisors at ATF headquarters in Washington -- the deputy director and the assistant director for all field operations -- have been reassigned as the beleaguered agency attempts to remake itself amid the fallout from a failed gun-tracking operation along the Southwest border called Fast and Furious, according to two sources briefed on the changes.
9:32 PM PDT, October 3, 2011
Emails show top Justice Department officials knew of ATF gun program
Senior Justice Department officials were aware that ATF agents allowed firearms to be "walked" into Mexico, according to a series of emails last year in which they discussed two undercover operations on the Southwest border, including the failed Fast and Furious program.
September 29, 2011
ATF Fast and Furious guns turned up in El Paso
A cache of assault weapons lost in the ATF's gun-trafficking surveillance operation in Phoenix turned up in El Paso, where it was being stored for shipment to Mexico, according to new internal agency emails and federal court records.
5:00 PM PDT, September 19, 2011
Mexico still waiting for answers on Fast and Furious gun program
Last fall's slaying of Mario Gonzalez, the brother of a Mexican state prosecutor, shocked people on both sides of the border. Sensational news reports revealed that cartel hit men had tortured Gonzalez, and forced him to make a videotaped "confession" that his high-powered sister was on the take.
9:14 PM PDT, September 11, 2011
Gun store owner had misgivings about ATF sting
In the fall of 2009, ATF agents installed a secret phone line and hidden cameras in a ceiling panel and wall at Andre Howard's Lone Wolf gun store. They gave him one basic instruction: Sell guns to every illegal purchaser who walks through the door.
12:47 PM PDT, September 9, 2011
Congress expands Fast and Furious probe to White House
Congressional investigators reviewing the failed gun-tracking program Operation Fast and Furious have formally asked the Obama administration to turn over copies of "all records" involving three key White House national security officials and the program, other ATF gun cases in Phoenix, and all communications between the White House and the ATF field office in Arizona.
3:49 PM PDT, September 8, 2011
Fast and Furious guns tied to second violent crime
In the second violent crime in this country connected with the ATF’s failed Fast and Furious program, two Arizona undercover police officers were allegedly assaulted last year when they attempted to stop two men in a stolen vehicle with two of the program's weapons in a confrontation south of Phoenix.
8:27 PM PDT, September 6, 2011
Republicans refuse to confirm leader for ATF despite its troubles
Congressional Republicans have been upset at the management at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which authorized a botched sting operation near the Mexican border that put guns in the hands of drug criminals.
September 2, 2011
White House received emails about Fast and Furious gun-trafficking operation
Newly obtained emails show that the White House was better informed about a failed gun-tracking operation on the border with Mexico than was previously known.
6:14 PM PDT, August 30, 2011
ATF chief removed over border gun scandal
Justice Department officials have removed the head of the beleaguered ATF and the U.S. attorney in Phoenix — an attempt to provide a fresh start for the agency whose employees had expressed a lack of confidence in their leadership since the Operation Fast and Furious gun-tracking scandal.
9:30 AM PDT, August 30, 2011
Kenneth Melson, who oversaw ATF's Fast and Furious, steps down
Kenneth E. Melson, who has faced heavy criticism in connection with the controversial Fast and Furious gun-trafficking investigation, announced Tuesday that he is stepping down as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
8:09 PM PDT, August 17, 2011
ATF denies it promoted Fast and Furious supervisors
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Wednesday that three supervisors in its controversial Fast and Furious gun-trafficking investigation were transferred to lateral jobs, not promoted.
August 17, 2011
Firearms from ATF sting linked to 11 more violent crimes
Firearms from the ATF's Operation Fast and Furious weapons trafficking investigation turned up at the scenes of at least 11 violent crimes in the U.S., as well as at a Border Patrol agent's slaying in southern Arizona last year, the Justice Department has acknowledged to Congress.
August 16, 2011
ATF promotes supervisors in controversial gun operation
The ATF has promoted three key supervisors of a controversial sting operation that allowed firearms to be illegally trafficked across the U.S. border into Mexico.
August 6, 2011
Drug agency played role in ATF gun sting
The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration has acknowledged to congressional investigators that her agency provided a supporting role in the ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious run by their counterparts at the ATF.
July 27, 2011
FBI report at odds with ATF claim on weapons
The claim by senior ATF officials that none of the weapons lost in the botched Fast and Furious sting operation were used in the shooting of a Border Patrol agent is not supported by FBI ballistics tests, according to a copy of the FBI report on the shooting.
July 26, 2011
U.S. Embassy in Mexico not told of ATF guns sting
As weapons from the United States increasingly began showing up at homicide scenes in Mexico last summer, U.S. Embassy officials cabled Washington that authorities needed to focus on small-time operators supplying guns to the drug cartels.
3:41 PM PDT, July 21, 2011
ATF sought to downplay guns scandal, emails show
Two days after U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry was killed in December, the top ATF supervisors in Phoenix said in internal emails that weapons found at the scene in Arizona came from a failed agency sting operation.
July 19, 2011
Justice Department trying to shield officials in guns scandal, ATF chief says
The Justice Department is trying to protect its political appointees from the Fast and Furious scandal by concealing an internal "smoking gun" report and other documents that acknowledge the role top officials played in the program that allowed firearms to flow illegally into Mexico, according to the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
July 17, 2011
Gun-smuggling cartel figures possibly were paid FBI informants
Congressional investigators probing the controversial "Fast and Furious" anti-gun-trafficking operation on the border with Mexico believe at least six Mexican drug cartel figures involved in gun smuggling also were paid FBI informants, officials said Saturday.
July 17, 2011
EditorialGun control at the border
The Obama administration took a concrete step toward curbing the flow of semiautomatic weapons to Mexico last week when it adopted a new regulation mandating the reporting of multiple sales of long guns to federal authorities.
July 12, 2011
U.S. to require more gun-buyer information in border states
As a backlash mounts over the government's failed Fast and Furious gun-tracing operation, the Justice Department will begin requiring firearms dealers in California and other border states to alert officials anytime they sell more than two semiautomatic rifles to someone in a five-day period.
July 7, 2011
More U.S. agencies implicated in Mexico gun-trafficking probe
The embattled head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has told congressional investigators that some Mexican drug cartel figures targeted by his agency in a gun-trafficking investigation were paid informants for the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration.
July 1, 2011
Democrats seek crackdown on gun trafficking
Two congressional Democrats, fresh from a trip to Mexico City, plan to propose tighter restrictions on gun trafficking to combat illegal U.S. sales that they say may supply 80% of the arsenals of Mexican drug cartels.
June 27, 2011
EditorialATF and Congress under the gun
A congressional subcommittee has spent much of the last month investigating how a border security operation code named "Fast and Furious" allowed hundreds of guns to fall into the hands of criminals on both sides of the Mexican border.
June 24, 2011
Federal ATF chief said to resist pressure to step down
The acting director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is strongly resisting pressure to step down because of growing controversy over the agency's surveillance program that allowed U.S. guns to flow unchecked into Mexico, according to several federal sources in Washington.
June 23, 2011
U.S. AK-47s linked to Mexican attorney's slaying
A congressional investigation into a controversial federal gun-running surveillance operation is moving to Mexico this week amid new reports that two AK-47s sold in Arizona during the operation were found at the scene of a shootout with the suspected killers of a well-known Mexican attorney.
June 21, 2011
ATF director to resign, agency sources say
The acting director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is expected to step down because of a controversial gun-running investigation that allowed weapons to be sold to suspected agents of Mexican drug cartels, according to two sources inside the agency.
12:24 PM PDT, June 15, 2011
ATF chief regularly briefed on botched gun operation
A federal firearms investigation that allowed weapons from the U.S. to pass into the hands of Mexican smugglers was closely monitored by the very top leaders of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to internal emails released Wednesday by a congressional committee.
June 14, 2011
Report describes gun agents' 'state of panic'
Federal gun agents, concerned about weapons sales to Mexican drug suspects, begged to make arrests but were rebuffed, according to a congressional report on a controversial investigation.
April 15, 2011
U.S. urged dealer to continue gun sales despite concerns, inquiry finds
The Arizona gun dealer repeatedly raised red flags about weapons ending up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels as part of Project Gunrunner, but his concerns were brushed aside, congressional investigators say.
April 9, 2011
Key figure in ATF's Gunrunner operation cooperating in congressional inquiry
George Gillett Jr. is expected to reveal crucial information about how a federal operation allowed weapons from the U.S. to pass into the hands of Mexican drug gangs.
March 10, 2011
Mexico lawmakers demand answers about guns smuggled under ATF's watch
A legislator says at least 150 Mexicans have been killed or wounded by guns trafficked by smugglers being tracked by U.S. agents from the ATF. The charges may exacerbate already rocky U.S.-Mexico relations.
March 8, 2011
U.S. agents short-staffed and under the gun in Mexico
A lack of resources, a policy against arming agents and staffers who don't speak Spanish hamper U.S. agents trying to stem the flow of weapons to drug cartels, say current and ex-staff members.
March 4, 2011
Border effort let guns into criminal hands
U.S. probe aimed at tracing arms to drug cartels lost track of hundreds, including two linked to agent's death.
March 3, 2011
U.S. gun-tracing operation let firearms into criminal hands
A federal operation aimed at tracing weapons to Mexican drug cartels lost track of hundreds, including two guns found at the scene of a Border Patrol agent's killing in Arizona.
February 2, 2011
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