Justice Dept. gun-tracking program should share more info with other police agencies
By Laurel Adams
November 15, 2010


A Justice Department program to help reduce drug cartel violence along the U.S. border found 90 percent of guns smuggled into Mexico came from American suppliers but the program is doing little to share tips with other law enforcement agencies, according to a 152-page watchdog report. http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/ATF/e1101.pdf

Project Gunrunner was created in 2005 by the Justice Department to track gun smuggling and to coordinate intelligence with Mexican authorities. ( http://www.atf.gov/firearms/programs/project-gunrunner/ ) But the program is not sharing tips and leads with Mexican and U.S. partner agencies, the department’s inspector general said. Intelligence staff in the program “lack a common understanding of how to develop and screen intelligence accurately,â€