Operation Fast and Furious – Update

Operation Fast and Furious – Update

September 2, 2011: Newly obtained emails show that the White House was better informed about a failed gun-tracking operation on the border with Mexico than was previously known. Three White House national security officials were given some details about the operation, known as Fast and Furious. Background information on Operation Fast and Furious can be found here. The three White House officials who were briefed were Kevin M. O’Reilly, director of North American Affairs for the White House national security staff; Dan Restrepo, the president’s senior Latin American advisor; and Greg Gatjanis, a White House national security official.

The emails were sent between July 2010 and February of this year, before it was disclosed that agents had lost track of hundreds of guns. The supervisor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) operation in Phoenix specifically mentioned Fast and Furious in at least one email to a White House national security official, and two other White House colleagues were briefed on reports from the supervisor, according to White House emails and a senior administration official.

Just hours after the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, federal officials tried to cover up evidence that the gun that killed Terry was one the government intentionally helped sell to the Mexican cartels in a weapons trafficking program known as Operation Fast and Furious. The revelation comes just days after a huge shake-up of government officials who oversaw the failed anti-gun trafficking program – AG Eric Holder is shifting people around the DOJ. Meanwhile, Congress renewed its demand for more answers. In an internal email the day after Terry’s murder, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley (who has been reassigned) and U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke (who has resigned) decided not to disclose the connection to the Terry murder, saying “this way we do not divulge our current case or the Border Patrol shooting case.”

Late Thursday (September 1, 2011), Senator Charles Grassley’s office revealed that 21 more Fast and Furious guns have been found at violent crime scenes in Mexico. That is up from 11 the agency admitted just last month. “The Justice Department has been less than forthcoming since day one, so the revisions here are hardly surprising, and the numbers will likely rise until the more than 1,000 guns that were allowed to fall into the hands of bad guys are recovered – most likely years down the road,” Grassley said.

White House Still Denies Involvement

A senior Obama administration official said the emails, obtained Thursday, did not prove that anyone in the White House was aware of the covert “investigative tactics” of the operation. “The emails validate what has been said previously, which is no one at the White House knew about the investigative tactics being used in the operation, let alone any decision to let guns walk,” said the official. “To the extent that some [national security staff members] were briefed on the top lines of ongoing federal efforts, so were members of Congress.”

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Jeremy Griffith

Jeremy Griffith is conservative blogger and retired officer of the United States Army Reserve. He writes for his own blog at www.AmericanMillenniumOnline.com

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One Comment

  1. Last week we hear that the head of the BATF has been “reassigned” to some desk job. Is that supposed to prevent prosecution from taking place, or something? It seems to me that I’ve seen this tactic happen more than once with Democrats covering their butts. The seem to think that all they have to do is remove the offending person, even another Democrat from whatever office they held when the crime occured, and then you never hear about any investigation again, in the news, or information about it coming from anyone. So are we going to see this same tactic here? I don’t think Sen. Grassly is going to drop this just because Holder is transfering people around in order to avoid prosecution, it ain’t going to fly this time Holder. As a matter of fact you may be ordered to appear before a Senate Investigation Committee yourself! We may even order Obama to appear like the Democrats did Bush and Chaney, Rove and Libby! How about that you bunch of crooks! Who the hell do the damn Democrats think they are anyway to think they can do something like Fast and Furious and when it causes serious problems they just drop it and shovel dirt over it and say it doesn’t exist? I am sick and tired of Democrats actually getting away with “MURDER”!! And how many decades have we seen this, people? You want to go back to JOHN F. KENNEDY?? THAT IS THE MOST SERIOUS COVER UP THE DEMOCRATS HAVE EVER DONE!!

    I am wondering about one thing though, and that is why haven’t we seen any arrests yet. You know the Democrats aren’t above snuffing out one of their own to keep them from spilling the beans before some investigation committee. They have the guy out in a boat doing some fishing and then suddenly he slumps over and some other fishermen find him later on dead where he was sitting, with a heart attack when the man was in perfect health. Hmmmm, sound familiar?

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