Issa to ATF Head: Why Are Major Fast and Furious Players Still Working at the Agency?

Issa to ATF Head: Why Are Major Fast and Furious Players Still Working at the Agency?

http://media.townhall.com/Townhall//...iepavlich1.gif Katie Pavlich | Apr 01, 2014

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Late yesterday afternoon, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley sent a letter to ATF Chief B. Todd Jones asking why major players in Operation Fast and Furious are still working at the agency, especially considering Jones said they were no longer employed. Although many agents and supervisors involved in the deadly operation have retired or resigned since 2010 when Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed with a gun trafficked to Mexican cartels during the program, not a single person has been fired.
"The family of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, who lost his life in the line of duty on December 15, 2010, recently contacted our staffs. The Terry family wanted to know why, more than three years after Agent Terry's murder, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has not fired anyone because of Agent Terry's death. As yo you are no doubt aware, weapons from the reckless Operation Fast and Furious were found at the scene of his murder," the lawmakers wrote. "Although Operation Fast and Furious took place before you became Director of ATF, the disciplinary actions against the ATF agents who designed, conducted, and managed the reckless operation has fallen squarely within your tenure at the head of the agency."
According to the letter, ATF continues to employ Case Agent Hope MacAllister, Group Supervisor David Voth, and Special Agent in Charge William Newell. All three were major players during Fast and Furious in the Phoenix Field Division. Not only were they involved in the operation, but also retaliated against whistleblowers like John Dodson for speaking out against their tactics. Newell's corrupt and reckless history in particular goes far beyond Operation Fast and Furious and into cases like Dobyns v. USA.
“It is inexcusable that, 19 months after these findings became public, ATF has provided Congress with no information about whether, or to what extent, these employees have been held accountable. The repeated faulty judgment of MacAllister, Voth, and Newell severely jeopardized public safety during Fast and Furious, and ATF’s failure to account for what disciplinary action, if any, has been taken is an affront to the family of Brian Terry," the letter continues.
Issa and Grassley also pressed Jones about a recent Inspector General report showing that approval was given to former ATF Agenet Bill McMahon to take a $200,000 per year salary with JPMorgan, the bank that holds ATF credit cards, while at the same time taking paid ATF leave in order to secure his retirement benefits after Fast and Furious fallout. The OIG report described this action as "being fraud" had it not been approved by government supervisors.
Before he was confirmed as permanent director of ATF, Jones promised to clean up the agency. Jones will be testifying tomorrow, Wednesday on Capitol Hill in front of the House Oversight Committee at 9:30 am et. The focus of the hearing will be ATF's reckless storefront tactics, tactics that include using mentally disabled teens for sting operations, but the questions outlined in this letter are also sure to come up.

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ATF Agents Lose Their Government Issued Guns, Kids Find Them

http://media.townhall.com/Townhall//...iepavlich1.gif Katie Pavlich | Feb 27, 2014

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I am continually amazed how many of the very agents in charge of enforcing America's gun laws at the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms are completely reckless with guns. Further, it's incredible how good they are at losing guns as a result of irresponsible or careless behavior. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is out with a new report showing ATF agents lost dozens of their loaded government issued handguns, one of which was found by children (paging Diane Sawyer at ABC News):

ATF agents have lost track of dozens of government-issued guns, after stashing them under the front seats in their cars, in glove compartments or simply leaving them on top of their vehicles and driving away, according to internal reports from the past five years obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Agents left their guns behind in bathroom stalls, at a hospital, outside a movie theater and on a plane, according to the records, obtained Tuesday by the news organization under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

In December 2009, two 6-year-old boys spotted an agent's loaded ATF Smith & Wesson .357 on a storm sewer grate in Bettendorf, Iowa. The agent lived nearby and later said he couldn't find his gun for days but didn't bother reporting it — until it hit the local newspaper.

In Los Angeles in 2011, an agent went out to a bar drinking with other agents and friends, reportedly consuming four alcoholic beverages. The next morning he woke up and realized his ATF-issued Glock was gone. It was not found.

Unreal. A loaded handgun spotted by kids thanks to careless placement? Drinking while carrying a firearm in a restaurant establishment? That's illegal. In fact, carrying a gun into a bar is illegal in most states, including California. Oh and what's this? It wasn't just handguns that were lost or stolen but long guns too? Terrific.

Most of the lost weapons were handguns, but there also were at least two assault rifles stolen. Typically the reports do not indicate what happened to the unrecovered guns. However, in a November 2008 incident, the gun may have wound up in Mexico, according to the report.

Last year the Journal Sentinel found ATF had lost a fully-automatic machine gun on the streets of Milwaukee. In early 2011, shortly after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed, we found out the Bureau allowed more than 2500 firearms to be trafficked from the United States and into Mexico for use by brutal Mexican cartels. How do these incidents keep happening? Because there is never any real accountability or consequences for these actions, so they continue.
At the end of 2013, the Obama administration announced new goals for legislation requiring lost or stolen guns to be reported. They should start with ATF. It is completely asinine that the very same agency responsible for enforcing gun laws is full of agents constantly breaking those laws and losing firearms.

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