ATF Whistleblower: Gunwalker Officials Being Shielded
This week, the Bereau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms promoted three of the officials responsible for Operation Fast and Furious:
All three have been heavily criticized for pushing the program forward even as it became apparent that it was out of control. At least 2,000 guns were lost and many turned up at crime scenes in Mexico and two at the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.
The three supervisors have been given new management positions at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. They are William G. McMahon, who was the ATF’s deputy director of operations in the West, where the illegal trafficking program was focused, and William D. Newell and David Voth, both field supervisors who oversaw the program out of the agency’s Phoenix office.
I asked ATF whistleblower Vince Cefalu what he thought of the promotions, and whether or not it was standard practice to promote ATF officials after a catastrophic operational failure. I even asked if he had heard of another instance where a federal law enforcement officer or manager was promoted after leading an operation that lost firearms which were subsequently used in the shootings of multiple federal agents.
His responses (via email) were as cutting as you might expect from a loyal agent recently fired by the Obama administration for attempting to clean up entrenched corruption:
First: why did they leave out FF ASAC George Gillette? He is one of the most corrupt and culpable guys in that operation. He was transferred to HQ as the liaison to the U.S. Marshals, which is normally a GS (General Schedule) 13 or 14 job. He is filling it as a GS 15?
None of the other three were actually promoted.
They were all placed in protected positions which shields them from public view. The assistant to the assistant director position was created under former Acting Director Mike Sullivan to shield corrupt and exposed managers so as to keep their grade and benefits.
No other law enforcement organization would make any of these moves while a congressional and OIG investigation was still ongoing. They should be in admin positions or on the beach [suspended], since potential criminal charges loom until they are cleared.
McMahon in charge of IA [Internal Affairs, a more common functional name for Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations]. S***, that’s like putting [Charles] Manson in charge of sharp objects.
IA has long been the Gestapo arm of our corrupt leadership, and now the very man who allowed Fast and Furious to continue is in charge?
This is appalling.
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) was infuriated when he heard that the Gunwalker conspirators were being protectively cloaked for their apparent crimes on behalf of the administration. Is the Department of Justice attempting to impose omertà so that these key figures don’t testify about what they know of those who authorized Operation Fast and Furious?
Incredible. These officials are so utterly brazen as to pull shielding maneuvers like this in plain view! It speaks volumes of how little they think of us that they feel as if this will work and protect them long run.
Legally, what can Darrel Issa’s committee do if this turns out to have been guided by upper level administration officials? Is it possible for the ATF to actually succeed in the smokescreens they keep throwing out there?
Why not?
They got away with Ruby Ridge and Waco. That murdering bastard, Lon Horiuchi, got promoted.
What has changed? Why wouldn’t they get away with it this time?
All true points, granted, but I’d posit that the biggest difference between now and then is that sites like this have a much louder voice.
I would like to think that with the stronger alternative media and the increased scrutiny that comes with it would start to turn the tide – I’ve been passing this story series around to family and friends and most of them have been shocked. Not enough popular outcry this time, but at least it’s a start.
For the life of me I simply cannot believe that this continues to grow legs, yet remains silent in the majority of the MSM, and therefore not present in view of the majority of American’s. We know Bristol Palin’s every move…we know Marcus Bachmann’s every misstep, even when taken out of context. We know the lopsided story of the feud between Allen West and the despicable Wasserman-Shultz. But this, something much bigger than a botched burglary that saw several go to Federal prison and brought down a Presidency…this remains silent. To quote Sheila Jackson-Lee “only this one, only this one”.
At a minimum, the ATF heads on this need to be in Orange jumpsuits…and IMHO Atty Gen Holder as well…even if it is only for obstructing justice. Continue to pressure your reps to act or support Grassley and Issa.
If you’ll notice, they are now attacking Issa. There was a piece, I believe in the Huffington Post, about one of his aides, a former employee at Goldman Sachs, who supposedly changed his name to hide his identity as a former GS employee, to aid Issa in getting the government off the back of Goldman Sachs. Yet no stories in the Huffpo about Gunwalker. When I pointed this out in the comment section about a story on Fox and hacking, the lefties mounted a concerted attack claiming I was employing a “red herring” to distract from the Fox story.
Here’s a link to the story:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/18/goldman-sachs-darrell-issa_n_930503.html
CBS did have an investigative reporter on it, she was doing a good job then all of a sudden she was re-assigned to do other stories. I would say someone from the obama White House made a call and that ended that.
I am going to call Issa and ask him some questions about this and when will he put in a SP to get to the bottom of this whole mess.
yet remains silent in the majority of the MSM,
……………………………………………………
I think the following ling will answer your question. Our media no longer is answerable to the American public.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/04/06/george-soros-events-weekend-aim-remake-financial-order-media-wheres-reporting/
Our media stopped being answerable to the American public when it was unionized.
Look at the history of it.
Mark V,
No argument here, look at the Soros and union connections, we are talking about the same thing.
The House reconvenes September 6. The progress on this case is maddeningly slow. I still want to know what it takes to get a special prosecutor and what a SP can do that a Congressional committee can’t.
I’m almost glad for these obfuscations; they eliminate any question of innocence. The exposure of this scheme will be spectacular. Dare one hope that Richard Serrano of the L.A. Times will win a Pulitzer?
The process of the investigation seems maddeningly slow but it’s not. It takes 6-12 months to prosecute someone for a pound of dope. Issa and his investigators have been investigating this since the whistle blower tips started flowing to his and Grassley’s office after the Dec 14, 2010 murder of Brian Terry. There have already been two congressional hearings which everyone should watch. There will be a third when Congress returns. Issa had wanted to convene during the recess but the Democrats on his committee wouldn’t cooperate. The investigation is being conducted against a backdrop of unprecedented stonewalling, obfuscation, lying and obstruction of justice by Holder and his subordinates as well as other.
If you want to hasten the appointment of a Special Prosecutor call your congressional delegation weekly. Tell them you are following the investigation closely and demand accountability. Write letters to the editor. Respond to media attempts to obfuscate and others intended to undermine Issa.
I am convinced there will be a special prosecutor and people will do jail time. I have been following developments in FnF since January. The investigation is moving as fast as it can considering that Holder is working overtime to slow it down.
Question: I don’t know much about Special Prosecutors. Couldn’t a SP be bought off or blackmailed? Remember, the people we’re trying to go after have NO MORALS at all. If they have to bribe and threaten, they will; we already know that. They extort and intimidate just like the Mafia; maybe worse. Is there a risk in pushing for a SP? And who would appoint the SP anyway?
At one time, I heard that the Terry family were thinking about suing the scoundrels in civil court. Whatever happened to that? Did someone get to them and shut them up?
I hope he does win one arhooley (you’ve got to be a blues fan with that moniker). Who would’ve thought our west coast “rag” would even mention this story.
Operation Gunwalker and Fast and Furious were much more than simply a botched operation involving BATFE , CIA and FBI.
They were a carefully conceived grab at America’s 2nd ammendment rights orchestrated by Obama and Holder.
When Obama told the Brady foundation he was working on disarming America “under the radar” this is what he was referring to.
If you aren’t sickened and angered by this obvious disreguard of American rights and the loss of American lives from this you are better than I am.
God save us ALL from Obama.
TO MR. YOUNGBLOOD. GOD WILL NOT DO FOR US WHAT WE ARE ABLE TO DO FOR OURSELVES.
WHEN WE MOVE, WE WILL FID HE IS THERE. HAND-WRINGING AND MOANING JUST WILL NOT
GET THE JOB DONE
jl
Please STOP SHOUTING, Jim.
The promotions may also be driven by this: If those people are eventually forced to resign, their pensions will most likely be based on the highest pay grade level they achieved.Bureaucrats know how to look after their own.
The object is to make sure they receive their pensions from a federal prison -along with another gazillion folks in this administration.
To think that they jailed Scooter Libby?
“Senator Cornyn’s request puts the attorney general, the ATF, the DOJ, and the White House in an unsettling position. If Operation Fast and Furious in Arizona is not an isolated incident, as evidence suggests, then the probability that this plot was orchestrated from the highest levels of the Obama administration increases dramatically.”
In some ways, Obama is probably happy that bad economic news is pushing this scandal off the front pages of newspapers and away from the main stream media. But once the stock market settles down a bit, I’m sure people will start to pay attention to this again. At the very least, Eric Holder will be thrown under the bus because of this. Maybe even Janet Napolitano, too (one can only hope). But something is going to happen before the next election and it is going to hit the administration hard. It will also show you just how inept these people in the Justice Department are.
The longer the stonewalling continues, the closer to the general election this will become a media captivating story. It’s not going away and will only become more damning the more attempts that are made to attempt to sweep it under the rug.
How much more do we need to see before we declare the BATFE and the DEA to be criminal organizations and start performing citizen arrests on them. A BATFE agent is a s likely to kill you as question or arrest you. They are now the enemy of the people.
It is time for a special prosecuter and a whole lot of contempt of congress arrests. Throw a few in jail to stew and they will start singing like canaries.
Like it or not almost all of the alphabet law enforcement agencies are political arms of the Obama machine, their mandated duties take second place to the Ones needs. This will get ugly.
I applaud Pajamas Media on sticking with this story, and bring it up at every blog I visit. Truly believe this story has the best chance of hurting the Obama machine, a thousand cuts will eventually take its toll.
I assume (hope) this is dragging out so long to 1) get enough people on record as lying (for eventual prosecution), and 2) bring this to a head right before the Nov 2012 elections. We need another tsunami.
I hope you are right. These investigations should be very loudly public in the months leading up to the 2012 election. Any convictions of high-level people should be done only after Obama can no longer pardon them.
The whole damn operation screams incompetence all right, but they sure are good at evading justice and covering up. Infuriating!
No it doesn’t. These people are not incompetent, and are not stupid.
They know exactly what they are doing.
I would like to make one important correction to this article. Vincent Cefalu has NOT been fired. He is still employed and in a virtual “rubber room” situation. ATF is trying to fire him for “lack of candor” which is hilarious since it is blatantly obvious that the last thing Vince lacks is “candor”. He WAS recently placed on a 6 day suspension. This was two weeks ago today. He is fighting for his job and his career. All good citizens have a responsibility to help this courageous and bold man, and the other whistle blowers, by demanding full exposure of FnF. At least one good man in ATF, Darren Gil, former acting ATF Attache to Mexico, has already lost his job over this.
Who wouldn’t want your very own minder? it’s obvious
Looks like a really good election issue …
I want to see indictments and convictions all the way to Holder. Nothing less is acceptable.
Typical Obama/Holder corruption. Fire the one honest ATF agent that exposed the whole corrupt operation, then move all the guilty parties to positions of safety that preserve their pay grades, including putting one of the most corrupt in the IG, the office that is supposed to ferret out corruption.
Nixon is a piker regarding corruption compared to Obama. Watergate was just a burglary, but this scandall actually killed people. Yet where is todays Woodward and Bernstein to expose it? And why no MSM calls for a special prosecutor? Oh, I forget, only corruption in repub administrations is worth investigating by the MSM. Of course Obama will make sure he does one thing that Nixon was honest enough, or careless enough, not to do, any tapes of this will have been destroyed already.
@Richard40
There is an equivalent to Woodward and Bernstein . This whole thing was a product of the new media . The forum at Clean Up ATF dor Org and bloggers Codrea & Vanderboegh exposed this act of sedition and kept the heat on until there were actually hearings . “We” did this . It is little different than the twitter driven revolution in Egypt . The old media is not dead , but is rapidly approaching obsolescence and they KNOW it .
YESSSS!!!!
Not surprised…the turds always rise to the top.
If these nasty little pricks get away with this it is the end of rule of law. Period.
This is one of the most powerful regulatory branches of an unconstitutional government gone completely off reservation. It has, by this one act, become both far more criminal than anything or anybody it was created to interdict, and a proxy arm of what is unquestionably a slow moving creeping coupe originating in the literal heart of our republic, hell bent at any cost to disarm and render defenseless the people of this nation who believe in and are willing to use 2nd Amendment remedies, if no other forms of redress
warranted by the constitution remain a viable course, to defend and protect ones Liberty.
They know it, We know it.
Its the useful fools who choose to ignore and by complacency, enable what are really crooks and hoodlums in suits to pull such unmitigated violation of every tenet and principle of law and treason.
The ATF has become unquestionably an instrument of tyranny.
Our tyranny, uniquely American, or should I say Amerikan(?), home grown, indigenous to republican form of government no less.
Tyranny in America has had to evolve this way, in this manner, if it is to come to fruition and bear the rotten fruit of tyranny. By a stroke of
bitter irony, or dichotomy of marxist double crossing, you choose, the people behind this are the essence of what is described in Homeland security bulletins concerning domestic enemies of the state.
The great act of deflection away from the truth of just how corrupted the entire system truly is.
For this to happen speaks of the power to truth of how in the bag of tyranny the entire federal government is.
Look all around, every branch, every check and balance, any position of consequence and power, has been taken over and held, no scratch all that, it has become a 5th column meat grinder with the sole purpose of chopping Liberty to tiny shreds, and ironies of irony, paid for and bankrolled, by the very people who will ultimately be subjected to this bitter ugly nasty tyranny.
If that don’t bake your noodle, then you got your head up your arse and deserve your just deserts of subjugation and dictatorship for being such an ignorant willing fool of a dupe.
Time to wake up.
The hour of the time to redress this tyranny is almost up.
Well said.
Nixon was able to keep a lid on Watergate until after his re-election despite an extremely hostile press. Given the way the MSM shields this Administration, I worry they will divert this story with anti-Issa hit pieces until after November, 2012. I think the bad news economy will dominate the headlines until then. Kudos to PJ, and a few other sites, for staying on top of this. This thing stinks real bad. Keep pressure on Issa’s Committee.