Thread: Death in the Desert: Project Gunwalker and the ATF Cover-Up

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stands accused of covering up a rogue operation on the border.

February 04, 2011

Death in the Desert: Project Gunwalker and the ATF Cover-Up

By T.L. Davis
22 Comments

On December 14, 2010, a firefight erupted in the Arizona desert. When the smoke had cleared, Customs and Border Protection Agent Brian Terry was dead, and the seeds of a scandal had been sown. Some of the rank and file of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), often referred to as the ATF, began to grow concerned that a new development in Project Gunrunner probably had resulted in the death of Agent Terry.

First word of the incident began to appear on CleanUpATF.org, a whistle-blower website dedicated to "returning the integrity, accountability and decency to the ATF." Two Second Amendment advocates, Mike Vanderboegh of the blog Sipsey Street Irregulars and David Codrea, a writer at Gun Rights Examiner.com, became immediately aware of the posts, and their interest pushed them to collaborate and use their own sources within the ATF to confirm the allegations being made.

The pair independently corroborated the existence of a deviation from Project Gunrunner which they began to sardonically refer to as Project Gunwalker. Sources told them of the unstated policy to provide assault weapons to straw buyers, who would walk the guns over the border and sell them to members of the Mexican drug cartels for the purpose of manufacturing evidence.

One source of resistance to this development came from Darren Gil, then ATF attaché to Mexico, who felt strongly that the Mexican authorities should be made aware of the change in tactics. Gil brought his concerns to Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix Office William D. Newell. Despite Gil's insistence, Newell refused to inform Mexico of the Bureau's intent. Frustrated and considering Newell's refusal to be a significant international policy error, Gil went to Newell's superiors in Washington. One can only speculate as to the conversations that took place, but Gil has since retired from the ATF.

With no further objections, the cynical plan allegedly was put into effect, and a string of subsequent events were unleashed. If played right, however, the Obama administration would get their "evidence," and the ATF could count on increased resources to pursue the very problem they were facilitating. That did not take into account the events that unfolded on the night of December 14 -- events which resulted in the death of Agent Terry.

Vanderboegh and Codrea relentlessly pursued the facts as presented to them by numerous and separate sources. They recognized that if true, the allegations would spell a serious breach of the public trust and the prospect of criminal activity within the ATF.

Finally, with facts in hand, they sought protection for their sources before going public. They approached several staff members on the Senate Judiciary Committee. They were directed from one person to the next. It was a struggle to ensure the safety of the agents putting their lives and careers on the line to expose the actions of the ATF. Eventually, Vanderboegh and Codrea obtained assurances that their informants would come under the whistle-blower protections offered by Senator Grassley of Iowa, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. What follows is an excerpt of a letter from Grassley to Acting Director of the ATF Melson:

Members of the Judiciary Committee have received numerous allegations that the ATF sanctioned the sale of hundreds of assault weapons to suspected straw purchasers, who then allegedly transported these weapons throughout the southwestern border area and into Mexico. According to the allegations, one of these individuals purchased three assault rifles with cash in Glendale, Arizona on January 16, 2010. Two of the weapons were then allegedly used in a firefight on December 14, 2010 against Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, killing CBP Agent Brian Terry.

On January 30, 2011, there came word that the ATF in Phoenix, instead of helping Senator Grassley get to the bottom of the allegations, had begun to exert retaliatory pressure against agents suspected of blowing the whistle on the operation. The following is an excerpt from the subsequent letter sent from Grassley to Acting Director Melson upon hearing of the retaliation:

As you know, I wrote you on Thursday, January 27, regarding serious allegations associated with Project Gunrunner and the death of Customs and Protection Agent Brian Terry. Although the staff briefing I requested has not been scheduled, it appears that the ATF is reacting in less productive ways to my request. I understand that Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) George Gillette of the ATF's Phoenix office questioned one of the individual agents who answered my staff's questions about Project Gunrunner.

Mike Vanderboegh is now reporting that the answer to this letter from Senator Grassley has been the January 31 promotion of William D. Newell to Darren Gil's previous position of Mexican attaché to the ATF. Theoretically, this would leave Gillette -- a person already alleged by the whistle-blowers to be deeply involved in coercion of the informants -- in charge of the Phoenix office.

T.L. Davis is the author of The Constitutionalist: Rights To Die For and his blog, TL In Exile. He is a frequent contributor to the Western Rifle Shooters Association.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/02/ ... ct_gu.html

several links on this post; go to the link above to view them

This is what happens when corrupt entities of the US Government go's Rogue

the ATF needs to be defunded, purged, Dismantled and prosecuted for all of the gooney goo goo corruption that is going on

this was posted two weeks ago.
this is old news. ive even sent copies of this to the house homeland security commitee and all its members

(edited to include link)
here is the previous post,. i forgot to add the link

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1178643-.html

Originally Posted by jamesw62

this was posted two weeks ago.
this is old news. ive even sent copies of this to the house homeland security commitee and all its members

Good work James but...
This is a new article addressing the same topic. If we only allowed one thread about a certain topic this whole site would become unmanageable.

by the way, anyone notice how hush-hush this murder has gone.

I read somewhere even a freedom of information request with the FBI was Denied. I think it was filed by the associated press ( i could be wrong ) and no one seems to be talking

That's crazy stuff.

Originally Posted by jamesw62

by the way, anyone notice how hush-hush this murder has gone.

I read somewhere even a freedom of information request with the FBI was Denied. I think it was filed by the associated press ( i could be wrong ) and no one seems to be talking

To be honest when I first read about the silence pertaining to the incident I thought the Mexican military might have been involved. Of course I wouldn't post a hunch like that and I'm glad I didn't. The Mexican military has entered US territory before though.

I've been following this at the Sipsey Street site (The 3 Percenters), they have been covering it well. It is hard to fathom that our Govt. could become so corrupt. These people (ATF) they are "The Law"... Who is going to go after these people? I bet this gun running has been going on for years, Lord knows how many Presidents knew about this.

Originally Posted by AirborneSapper7

This is what happens when corrupt entities of the US Government go's Rogue

the ATF needs to be defunded, purged, Dismantled and prosecuted for all of the gooney goo goo corruption that is going on

Agree - This is disgusting.

Jamesw assembled numerous articles and letters and has a LOT of information. Also, Sipsey Street has been leading the charge on trying to get this out.

The general assertion is that the guns were being "helped" to Mexico to get the numbers up so the ATF budget would be increased. This would mean that the powers that be at the ATF, for this little project,were assisting in illegal activities in order to get a bigger piece of the Federal pie and develop a bigger power base for themselves.

Basically I think this amounts to bureaucrats building themselves a bigger rice bowl at the expense of the safety and lives of the people that work for them and the people that pay them.

It can also be said that they are directly responsible for the murder of people in Mexico by assisting with the transportation of gun to Mexico.

The other consequence is that it increases the number of the guns "found" in Mexico that were purchased in the US that is used as an excuse for gun control.

This is no different than the corrupt officials in Mexico that assist the cartels. The people that are responsible for this little project should be prosecuted and jailed I don't care how high up the investigation goes.