ATF director testifies on bungled gun operation
By Sari Horwitz, Wednesday, July 6, 10:34 AM
Kenneth E. Melson, ATFÂ’s acting director, has told congressional investigators that the FBI and the DEA may have been working with the very people the firearms bureau suspected of gun trafficking and was trying to target in its controversial undercover gun operation known as Fast and Furious.
The now-defunct program allowed the suspected illegal purchase of hundreds of semiautomatic firearms in Arizona gun shops so that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could watch where the firearms ended up in Mexico, with the hope of bringing down a Mexican cartel. ItÂ’s been alleged that the Department of Justice and ATF allowed nearly 2,500 guns to flow illegally into Mexico as part of the program....
...Firearms associated with Fast and Furious have been linked to the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and the murder of a prominent Mexican attorney. Two of the assault rifles purchased by a suspect in the Fast and Furious case were found at the scene of TerryÂ’s Dec. 14 shooting.
Issa and Grassley said that several unnamed sources had told congressional investigators that some of the gun trafficking “higher-ups” whom the ATF was trying to identify through Fast and Furious were already known to other law enforcement agencies, and may even have been paid informants. Melson testified Monday that the ATF was “kept in the dark” about certain activities of other agencies, including DEA and FBI, according to the letter to Holder.
“Mr. Melson said that he learned from ATF agents in the filed that information obtained by these agencies could have had a material impact on the Fast and Furious investigation as far back as late 2009 or early 2010,” the letter said. After learning about this, Melson told congressional investigators that he reported the information in April 2011 to the acting inspector general and directly to then-acting Deputy Attorney General James Cole on June 16...
...MelsonÂ’s interview with congressional investigators was originally scheduled through the Justice Department to occur July 13 in the presence of Justice Department and ATF lawyers. But Issa and Grassley said that once Melson was told that he could testify with his lawyer present rather than with counsel representing the departmentÂ’s interests, he chose that option.
“Acting Director Melson’s cooperation was extremely helpful to our investigation,” Issa and Grassley wrote Holder. “He was candid in admitting mistakes that his agency made and described various ways he says that he tried to remedy the problems.”
Melson told the committees that he and ATFÂ’s senior officials reassigned every manager involved in Fast and Furious after learning the facts of the operation. Melson also said he wanted to be more cooperative in the congressional investigation months ago but was prohibited from talking.
“He said that Justice Department officials directed them not to respond,” Issa and Grassley wrote Holder.
Holder, who testified last month that he only learned of Fast and Furious recently, has asked the Justice DepartmentÂ’s inspector general to investigate the bungled operation.
