Thread: Congressmen accuse W.H. of Project Gunrunner cover-up

"...Last week, our administration launched a major new effort to break the backs of the cartels. My department is committing 100 new ATF personnel to the Southwest border in the next 100 days to supplement our ongoing Project Gunrunner..."

Magyart, if this is proven to be true, IMO, both Holder and Obama and others are finished!!

I would like to thank the Mexican and U.S. experts who have worked so hard on this issue. On our side, Secretary Napolitano and I are committed to putting the resources in place to increase our attack on arms trafficking into Mexico.

Sounds like Big Sis is in the pot also.

both Holder and Obama and others are finished.... & Napolitano = now that would be a dream come true.....

Originally Posted by TexasBorn

"...Last week, our administration launched a major new effort to break the backs of the cartels. My department is committing 100 new ATF personnel to the Southwest border in the next 100 days to supplement our ongoing Project Gunrunner..."

Magyart, if this is proven to be true, IMO, both Holder and Obama and others are finished!!

It's from the Dept. of Justice web site.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

ATF’s 5,000 employees perform the dual responsibilities of enforcing federal criminal laws and regulating the firearms and explosives industries. ATF investigates violent crimes involving firearms and explosives, acts of arson, and illegal trafficking of alcohol and tobacco products. ATF also provides training and support to its federal, state, local, and international law enforcement partners and works in 25 field divisions with representation throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam. Foreign offices are located in Mexico, Canada, Colombia, and representatives in France, the Netherlands, Iraq, and El Salvador.

Reports Issued

ATF’s Project Gunrunner

The OIG’s Evaluation and Inspections Division examined ATF’s plans to expand Project Gunrunner, ATF’s national initiative to reduce firearms trafficking to Mexico. Mexican drug cartels often use weapons from the United States to control lucrative drug trafficking corridors along the Southwest border. To support and expand Project Gunrunner, ATF received $10 million from the Recovery Act and an additional $11.9 million in FY 2009 appropriations and supplemental funding.

Our review concluded that aspects of the project’s expansion plans will enhance ATF’s ability to combat firearms trafficking, but some planned activities do not appear to represent the best use of resources to reduce firearms trafficking. ATF plans to expand Project Gunrunner by establishing new Gunrunner teams in McAllen, Texas; El Centro, California; and Las Cruces, New Mexico; with a satellite office in Roswell, New Mexico. In addition, four ATF agents will be located in Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana, Mexico, to provide support to the government of Mexico. Although ATF’s decision to place new Project Gunrunner staff in McAllen, El Centro, Juarez, and Tijuana appeared sound, we questioned placing Gunrunner teams in Las Cruces and Roswell because ATF crime gun and workload data showed that these sites do not have large amounts of firearms trafficking or crime that is linked to Mexican cartels.

Firearms Trafficking Corridors and Planned ATF Gunrunner
Team Locations Along the Southwest Border



Note: Not to scale.

Source: OIG map based on descriptions of the corridors in ATF, “Southwest Border Initiative: Project Gunrunnerâ€

Semiannual Report to Congress
http://www.justice.gov/oig/semiannual/1105/atf.htm

October 1, 2010 – March 31, 2011
Office of the Inspector General

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Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
ATF’s 5,000 employees enforce federal criminal laws and regulate the firearms and explosives industries. ATF investigates violent crimes involving firearms and explosives, acts of arson, and illegal trafficking of alcohol and tobacco products. ATF also provides training and support to its federal, state, local, and international law enforcement partners and works in 25 field divisions with representation throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam. Foreign offices are located in Mexico, Canada, Colombia, and Iraq, as well as an advisor based in San Salvador serving El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Belize, Honduras, and Costa Rica.

Reports Issued
Project Gunrunner

The OIG examined ATF’s implementation of Project Gunrunner, an initiative to combat firearms trafficking into Mexico that ATF began as a pilot project in Texas in 2005 and expanded into a national initiative in 2006. Firearms trafficking along the Southwest border has intensified as drug traffickers operating in Mexico have turned to the United States as a primary source of weapons and routinely smuggle guns from the United States into Mexico.

This OIG review compared data from before and after Project Gunrunner’s implementation and found that ATF had increased the investigation and referral of defendants for federal prosecution for firearms trafficking-related offenses. Despite the increased ATF activity associated with Project Gunrunner, we found that significant weaknesses in ATF’s implementation of Project Gunrunner undermine its effectiveness.

For example, our review found that ATF does not systematically and consistently exchange intelligence with its Mexican and some U.S. partner agencies, including the DEA, ICE, and Customs and Border Protection. Intelligence personnel in ATF’s Southwest border field divisions also do not routinely share firearms trafficking intelligence with each other. Further, ATF could better implement its Border Liaison Program to improve information sharing and coordination between its personnel in the United States and Mexico.

We also found that ATF focuses largely on inspections of gun dealers and investigations of individuals who buy guns on behalf of others who cannot buy them legally (straw purchasers), rather than on higher-level traffickers, smugglers, and the ultimate recipients of the trafficked guns.

For example, 68 percent of Project Gunrunner cases are single-defendant cases, and some ATF managers discourage field personnel from conducting the types of complex conspiracy investigations that target higher-level members of trafficking rings. ATF also has not effectively used the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program to conduct more complex conspiracy investigations.

According to ATF’s June 2007 Gunrunner strategy, tracing guns seized in Mexico is the “cornerstoneâ€

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqZ9WVBXBvw