Gunwalker: Issa Defends ATF Whistleblowers from Retaliation
As the Operation Fast and Furious scandal deepens, Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has fired another broadside at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Issa has sent a letter to Deputy ATF Director William J. Hoover, insisting on assurances there would be no reprisals against the ATF agents who have chosen to testify about a program Issa called “felony stupid”:
I write to request your assurance that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) will not retaliate against witnesses who have provided information to this Committee. I make this request in light of the fact that on June 15,2011, in a hearing before the Committee entitled “Operation Fast and Furious: Reckless Decisions, Tragic Outcomes,” three veteran ATF special agents gave testimony highly critical of the ATF. They should not face reprisals of any kind for their testimony. No other ATF employees who cooperate with Congress should face retaliation either.
Operation Fast and Furious, which has come to be known as “Gunwalker,” was the operation in which more than 2,000 firearms — including semiautomatic versions of the AK-47 and .50 Barrett sniper rifles which fire the same round as a .50 caliber machine gun — were allowed to walk across the border in hopes of tracking them to cartel members. While the guns have turned up at the scene of murders both in the U.S. and in Mexico, no one but the low-level straw buyers who bought the weapons have been indicted, let alone convicted.
Issa’s concerns about retaliation against ATF agents are well-founded. At least one of the agents who testified was reluctant to do so for fear of job repercussions, as quoted in Issa’s letter:
[T]here has been a lot of undertones of retaliation. Like I took the schism as, hey, you don’t like what we are doing here, quit, or we will fire you or whatever. … ATF is just — they have been known historically from my experience … just depending on the supervisor, to be a very retaliatory agency. And that’s why when … your office reached out to me, I wanted to talk back then, but it would have been under the guise of a whistle blower. And … this is important enough to blow a whistle on, but I would be afraid of the retaliation that still might be coming down.
Have there been any indictments? I have not seen any. Heads need to roll. Actually the whole agency is a waste of money.
Alcohol: Do we really need to pay revenuers to chase a few hillbilly moonshiners?
Tobacco: Who cares?
Firearms: The second ammendment covers this, we don’t need any regulation that the states cannot provide.
Explosives: Don’t we have an FBI?
There are so many agencys that should be abolished, where to begin. The fear I have is that we put honest conservatives in congress but we don’t put enough in in any given election so by the time the next election rolls around, the previous members will have gone over to the dark side.
Alchohol: Lots of people die through bad shine and it’s not all hillbillies so yes.
Tobacco: It’s not legal to grow tobacco for commercial purposes in most countries without various permits.
Firearms: Yeah and what of guns getting into and out of Mexico and other locations?
What of people who make guns illegally? More nuances than the second amendment accounts for. In this regard the information gained is benefitial.
“Alchohol: Lots of people die through bad shine and it’s not all hillbillies so yes.
Tobacco: It’s not legal to grow tobacco for commercial purposes in most countries without various permits.
Firearms: Yeah and what of guns getting into and out of Mexico and other locations?
What of people who make guns illegally?”
Alcohol and Tobacco – FDA, HHS, Commerce. Any of these Departments could claim jurisdiction, rather than Justice.
Firearms – Commerce or State Departments rather than Justice. FBI rather than ATF. Or gosh, maybe just local governments and local police forces.
The ATF has always been unnecessary.
Except that these hearings are proving that the biggest source of US guns in Mexico is ATF. Or the Mexican police and military.
Another of the many reasons why the BATFE needs to be disbanded. We have the FDA to deal with tobacco and the FBI can deal with the rest. Why we need another bunch of testosterone fueled agents that just want to shoot people (see Ruby Ridge and Waco) is an abomination!
Greetings:
I don’t understand why the Committee Chairman sent his letter to the “Deputy” as opposed to the head of the ATF.
Probably because Ken Melson is an incompetent twit who is likely to be the given sacrifice.
So Ken Melson seems likely to be a human sacrifice. What incentive does he have to keep his mouth shut once he’s out? All I can think is that his O-dministration keepers have threatened him with flaming destruction if he utters one word. It wouldn’t actually appear so spectacular, but some of those redactions might be cleared, a detail here and a confidence there leaked . . .
This doesn’t even sound credible to me, who is trying to think it through. I just don’t understand why Melson wouldn’t be beset by reporters in his “retirement” and why he wouldn’t talk to them as he watches his erstwhile employers lie and smear him.
It’s called a Presidential Pardon. Which he will not get if he talks.
The Mafia isn’t the only outfit with an oath of Omerta. BATFE and “progressives” in general operate on the same principle.
clear ether
eon
A good intent, but probably in vain. The ATF has more than one way to skin a cat.
The Obama government is guilty of innocent blood. In criminally supplying deadly weapons to the narco terrorists, the U.S. government became a part of the violent narco terrorists. If this is what they will do to our ally, Mexico and Mexican innocents, what dreadful plans do they have for America? This country is no longer recognizable as the great American nation it once was. Where America stood for justice, freedom and human rights. America is being transformed into something terrible
If it was not for the fact that this horrible crime against innocents was perpetrated by the top leaders of our government, Mexico would be demanding the extradition of every guilty person to stand trial in Mexico.
Every American and every American ally should be extremely worried that the American government provided weapons to commit MURDER. This frightening crime should be the biggest story EVERY DAY in the media in America and around the world. Unless our elected representatives deal with this horrible crime against humanity, America faces a very dark and terrible future.
God speed Mr. Issa! Don’t give-up, don’t ever give-up!
They just fired one of those guys: http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/breaking-atf-heeds-issa-s-no-retaliation-warning-by-retaliating
“ATF served Special Agent Vince Cefalu with termination paperwork today.”
That’s the word from Jay Dobyns, himself a subject of Bureau retaliation, in a post on CleanUpATF.
Gun Rights Examiner reported on Cefalu in May of last year–He was the agent assigned to do nothing because he came forward to complain about ATF mismanagement.”
What we’re dealing with here are people in positions of authority who love all the authority without caring about any of the responsibility. This is generally how many teenagers act, though I’ve seen some teens who act far more responsibly than many members of our government.
Hopefully, 2012 might see a turnaround in this line of thinking..but in my 50 years on this earth, all I have seen is that each generation gets a little worse. We are in Roman times.
The Old Media is trying to compare Gunwalker to Watergate, which is foolish even for them. Watergate was just a petty burglary committed by a few partisan flunkies. Gunwalker is an evil abuse of power that resulted in hundreds of innocent deaths. And if Obama didn’t know about it, as he claims, then that just underscores his dangerous level of incompetence.
I say again keep the pressure on. Contact your representatives and senators. Contact the White House. Let them know you are watching and you demand a full investigation. Write to the editor of your local paper. This ‘crisis’ is too good to waste.
The ATF is so impressed with Issa’s defense of whistleblowers that the ATF just fired whistleblower Vince Cefalu today.
http://cleanupatf.org/forums/index.php?/topic/213-vince-cefalu-firing/page__view__findpost__p__2483
This is SOP for the ATF.
Man O Man if you want a good laugh you need to take a little time and stop by media matters and read what the loons have to say about this gun runner case. They think this is nothing but a giant right wing conspiracy against Holder and the great one himself Obumer. They are getting so worked up about Fox news running this story that their heads are about to explode. I signed up for their web site with the intent of adding a sane right wing view point but they wont let new members post comments about their story’s until they first have a chance to review and edit your post before its released, so much for free speech with the left, its only free speech if you agree with them but if you don’t agree with them then you need to be edited first.
Just remember guys there’s a war going on in our county and media for the hearts and minds of our young people and web sites like media matters are taking the subject of guns and people who like guns and are making them out to be nothing but ring wing knuckle dragging wack jobs. So if you value the second amendment and firearms take some of your time to post on web sites like media matters to put forth a positive view of firearms, because if we lose the harts and minds of young people and the way they think about guns and the second amendment we will be the last generation to enjoy the rights and freedoms afforded us in the second amendment because without the young to follow us in the fight to save guns they will be lost forever to future generations.
Until someone gets impeached or charged with lying under oath, and removed from office, Issa is just blathering.
ATF is a criminal conspiracy run by the government. They should be zeroed out of the budget and their legitimate responsibilities, but none of their staff, reassigned to other agencies.
“Until someone gets impeached or charged with lying under oath, and removed from office, Issa is just blathering.”
I hope this was just an idea poorly expressed, because if the truth is being investigated in sincerity but meeting evil resistance and antipathy from the ATF and DOJ, dear writer, that does not make Issa blathering, right? That would make the TRUTH difficult to discern and a coverup in progress.
So, who in our beloved Governmental Aisles and White House receives the kickbacks from this Shakedown? What does the Mexican cartel know, why the retaliatory behaviors allowed…well to keep the flood lights off the center of action – all the way at the top.
Yes indeed. No deaths from waterboarding.
How many were killed by these guns?
“The entire Gunrunner operation was nothing but a stunt to promote gun control”.
This is the most likely explanation, it certainly didn’t make sense as a law enforcement exercise.
The administration needed an exploitable crisis, and they created one.
+1 Sir…its my gut feeling as well.
The question brought up at the end of the article “In the end it seems clear the rot at ATF — and the DOJ — goes deep, and no one knows at this point where the bottom of the sewer is.” has a very clear answer. The bottom of the sewer is at the top of the heap.
Why do they need defended? Those responsible need to be in jail and replaced by those bringing it out into the open.