Did U.S. agency smuggle guns to Mexico to justify its budget?

Posted: January 22, 2011


© 2011

The death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent north of Nogales, Ariz., on December 14, 2010 might turn out to be the death knell for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF.

Allegations have surfaced suggesting that one of the guns used by Mexican bandits during the firefight in which Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed might have been smuggled into Mexico with the knowing assistance of ATF officials. If these allegations prove to be true, it is quite possible that the long troubled agency could be dismantled. Even if there proves to be no connection with Agent Terry's death, the scrutiny generated by an investigation could crash the agency.

There are actually four separate but connected accusations against ATF officials: First, that they intentionally arranged to have hundreds of firearms "walked" across the U.S. border into Mexico. Second, that they instructed U.S. gun dealers to proceed with questionable and illegal sales of firearms to suspected gunrunners. Third, that they intentionally withheld information about U.S.-sanctioned gun smuggling from the Mexican government. Fourth, that one of the guns ATF allowed or helped to be smuggled into Mexico was involved in the death of Agent Terry.

The accusations first arose on an ATF insider Internet forum called www.CleanUpATF.org, where suggestions of these possible misdeeds were characterized as rumors, speculation and "word on the street."

The forum is a gathering place for disgruntled ATF employees frustrated with ATF management and aimed at rooting out waste, fraud, abuse and managerial malfeasance.

After the initial rumors were picked up by Internet blogger Mike Vanderboegh of SipseyStreetIrregulars.blogspot.com and David Codrea of WaronGuns.blogspot.com and Examiner news, more information began trickling out, and Codrea and Vanderboegh began receiving independent and credible corroboration of the rumors.

At this point the two claim that there are government employees prepared to step forward with personal knowledge and documentation to prove some or all of the accusations, but that the whistleblowers fear reprisals and are seeking official protection from someone in Congress before turning over their information. So far members of Congress are running in the opposite direction.

The ATF has a long history of abuse, overreaching, show-boating and deception. Repeated examples of botched raids, raids on wrong addresses, bad shootings and wrongful prosecutions were brought out in congressional testimony in the late 1970s, garnering the agency rebukes and budget cuts from outraged members of Congress.

Accusations of individual agent abusiveness and managerial incompetence continued through the '80s and '90s. In 1992 ATF initiated the tragedy at Ruby Ridge in which Randy Weaver's wife Vicki and 14-year old son Sammy were killed by federal agents and Weaver and his friend Kevin Harris were both seriously wounded. A Federal Marshall was also killed – all over an ATF accusation that Weaver had sold an informant two shotguns with barrels a quarter-inch shorter than the law allows.

It was also ATF that instigated the assault on the Branch Davidian Church outside Waco, Texas, in 1993, which resulted in the deaths of 4 ATF agents and some 82 men, women and children. These two incidents were later identified as the primary impetus for the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

In recent years ATF has engaged in high-profile, expensive and notably fruitless sting operations against the Hell's Angels and other "outlaw" motorcycle clubs; and most recently they have been in the spotlight as federal officials including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama have claimed that over 90 percent of Mexican crime guns were illegally trafficked into Mexico from the U.S. That over-inflated hyperbole led to the creation of Project Gunrunner, an ATF-led initiative that was supposed to reduce arms trafficking across the border.

Last year the Justice Department Inspector General's office issued a scathing report declaring Project Gunrunner a dismal failure. ATF responded by requesting more money and manpower to beef up the project and backed up the requests with new, better-supported statistics.

Speculation abounds that the alleged funneling of guns into Mexico by ATF (dubbed "Project Gunwalker") was done to bolster trace numbers specifically to justify bigger budgets for Project Gunrunner and/or to lend credibility to informants attempting to infiltrate gun smuggling operations.

Whatever the objectives, if the allegations prove to be true, ATF is not likely to survive. The agency has been without a confirmed director for over 6 years. Their explosives operations are already being absorbed by the FBI, and there have been other takeover rumbles from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The charges of concealing the smuggling operation from Mexican officials extend up to the highest levels of ATF leaving no place for officials to hide.

At this point everything hinges on whether some member of Congress will step up and offer protection to the whistleblowers so the facts can be brought out into the open.


Jeff Knox is a second-generation political activist and director of The Firearms Coalition. His writing can regularly be seen in Shotgun News and Front Sight magazines as well as here on WorldNetDaily.

Rep. Darrell Issa is tired of waiting for the government to respond to his subpoenas, and is now threatening charges of contempt of Congress .

Onward and upward,
airforce

ITS A GOOD DEAL, ABOUT TIME FOR THE WORM TO TURN ON THESE GUYS. Setting people up, Its not bad enough people can get in trouble on their own, The ATF will gladly help you break the law then Bust you for it. I hope they all hang and go to prison.

The Gunwalker Scandal Made Simple

There are five key accusations against ATF and DOJ made by ATF whistleblowers and other sources within FedGov:

1. That they instructed U.S. gun dealers to proceed with questionable and illegal sales of firearms to suspected gunrunners.

2. That they allowed or even assisted in those guns crossing the U.S. border into Mexico to "boost the numbers" of American civilian market firearms seized in Mexico and thereby provide the justification for more firearm restrictions on American citizens and more power and money for ATF.

3. That they intentionally kept Mexican authorities in the dark about the operation, even over objections of their own agents.

4. That weapons that the ATF let "walk" to Mexico were involved in the deaths of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE agent Jaime Zapata, as well as at least hundreds of Mexican citizens.

5. That at least since the death of Brian Terry on 14 December, the Obama administration is engaged in a full-press cover-up of the facts behind what has come to be known as the "Gunwalker Scandal."


Project Gunwalker Scandal Resources

David Codrea's Journalist Guides:
Volume One
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/a-journalist-s-guide-to-project-gunwalker

Volume Two
https://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/a-journalist-s-guide-to-project-gunwalker-part-two

Volume Three
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/a-journalist-s-guide-to-project-gunwalker-part-three

Sharyl Attkisson's stories on CBS
http://www.cbsnews.com/sharylattkisson?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Official Correspondence on the Project Gunwalker Scandal.
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2011/03/official-correspondence-on-project.html

It goes to show our mexican-american and african-american friends, that the left.

Obama, Holder and all the rest of the progressives care nothing about your well being.

They are using you for votes, and then push the drugs and guns into your neighborhoods for their own agenda.

You die, they grow stronger,. Why? just read the above posts.


Vote for progressives or Neo-Cons you lose your rights, your freedom and maybe your life.

only strict constitutionalists like Ron Paul will keep you free, if it's not too late.

On the original post, we need some of our Reps to investigate this and the TARP fund/ bail outs and every action taken since Obama, oh hell all the way back to GWB 43's first term. These criminals need to pay...

Did U.S. agency (Raid Mt. Carmel) to justify its budget?

Sounds eerily familiar, and IMO, it is BATFE S.O.P. to harass, impoverish, and murder Americans in order to justify their own existence.

Now you know why Aaron Zelman referred to them as "The Gang."

BATFE is a rogue, egregiously un-Constitutional "swarm of officers sent hither to eat out our substance."

BATFE needs to be dismantled IMMEDIATELY.

Additionally, BATFE is the enforcement arm for the Treasury Department, and therefore a whole lot of "dismantling' needs to take place, beginning from the top on down.

Thus the tyrant protects himself.

Meet Dan Restrepo. Is Dan the Oliver North of the Gunwalker scandal? My guess: if he isn't, he knows who is.


Restrepo's job is to implement Obama's vision for how the U.S. should interact with the other thirty-four countries in the Western Hemisphere. There is no typical workday at the NSC "at least, I haven't found one yet," says Restrepo, and the country or issue he's thinking about switches constantly over the course of each day. He chairs frequent meetings between U.S. federal agencies and foreign visitors, and keeps Obama's national security advisor briefed on matters in the Western Hemisphere that might require the president's attention. -- Penn Law Journal, Spring, 2010.


If personnel is policy and bad policies on the ground come from meetings of ambitious persons on high, then those of us who are trying to figure out where the Gunwalker scandal came from might want to look at Dan Restrepo and the meetings he's been in.

Many readers of Sipsey Street who are familiar with the Obama anti-firearm agenda will recall this promise from the Obama campaign, entitled “Address Gun Violence in Cities.”

As president, Barack Obama would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn't have them. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent, as such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets.


Fewer readers will be familiar with Obama's campaign promises about Mexico, and even fewer will recognize the name of his campaign point man then and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs on the National Security Council now: Dan Restrepo.

The Bolívar Network of the University of Virginia ("an inclusive alumni organization dedicated to reaching out to and advocating for all Latinos, Hispanics and Latin American birth, origin, or affinity alumni, students and friends of the University of Virginia's Latino community by connecting to each other and to the University") described Restrepo, Class of 1993, before he took up his jobs with Obama thusly:

Dan Restrepo is a Senior Fellow and Director of The Americas Project at American Progress. In his role, Dan is responsible for the Center’s work related to the United States and its place in and relationship with the rest of the Americas. Dan, a first generation American of Colombian and Spanish parents, served on the Democratic staff of the House International Relations Committee from 1993 to 1996. There he focused on all aspects of U.S. policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean, including U.S. policy toward Haiti during its political transitions, U.S. counter-narcotics programs and policies, the consolidation of the Central American peace processes, U.S.-Cuba policy, and the Mexican debt crisis among other matters. During his tenure on the International Relations Committee staff, Dan traveled extensively throughout the hemisphere meeting with government officials, civil society leaders, and opposition party leaders.

Immediately before starting The Americas Project, Dan served as the Director of Congressional Affairs at American Progress. Prior to joining American Progress, Dan spent three years as an associate at the law firm of Williams & Connolly, LLP. (Emphasis supplied, MBV) Prior to those years, Dan served as an attorney for the Florida Democratic Party during the 2000 election recount. From August through November 2000, he worked as the Research Director for the Florida Democratic Coordinated Campaign. . .

Dan graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law (1999) before serving as a judicial clerk to the Hon. Anthony J. Scirica of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Dan graduated from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA (1993). He speaks fluent Spanish.


Another Restrepo profile.

And what is Williams & Connolly?

Williams & Connolly LLP is a prominent litigation firm based in Washington, D.C. The firm was founded by trial lawyer Edward Bennett Williams, who left the partnership of D.C. firm Hogan & Hartson to launch his own litigation boutique.

Recent high-profile cases include the successful defense of U.S. President Clinton's impeachment, representation of Enron's law firm Vinson & Elkins, representation of the motion picture studios in the Kazaa/Grokster file-trading litigation, defense of the Vioxx cases, and counsel for the plaintiff states in the United States v. Microsoft antitrust remedy trial.

In past years the firm represented Colonel Oliver North during the Iran-Contra Affair, and defended John Hinckley, the would-be assassin of President Reagan, and President Clinton during the impeachment hearings. The firm's senior partner is Brendan Sullivan. -- Wikipedia.


Oliver North. Pretty ironic.

The law firm lists this litany of descriptions of themselves on the sidebar of their website:

"Williams and Connolly likes to save itself for clients in mortal danger." -- The American Lawyer

"The powerhouse Washington law firm with a deep bench." -- Wall Street Journal

"Williams & Connolly, the Washington power law firm." -- Washington Post

"A reputation for fierce representation of its high-profile clients." -- National Law Journal

"One of the city's most prestigious and feared law firms." -- The New Republic

"Tightly knit, highly trained, and notoriously relentless." -- Legal Times

"Washington D.C.'s Williams & Connolly is one of the most prestigious firms in the country - and one of the most tight-lipped." -- Vault.com


I guess it ain't braggin' if you can do it.

W&C describes their own successes in International Litigation and Arbitration:

Williams & Connolly LLP has represented numerous clients in a wide range of international disputes. The firm has been recognized as one of the top 10 firms in the United States for International Commercial Litigation in a survey of corporate counsel and peer firms conducted by Euromoney and awarded the top honor as the only leading law firm for dispute resolution in Washington, D.C. by the PLC Global Counsel Dispute Resolution Handbook (2004-2005 edition). Whether in litigation, arbitration, or negotiation, Williams & Connolly attorneys bring to international disputes the same traditions of top-notch preparation, strategic thinking, and concern for the client's goals as in the firm's domestic litigation practice.

The firm is frequently retained to represent both foreign and U.S. clients in litigation in foreign countries as well as in litigation spanning two or more national jurisdictions. Firm lawyers manage all aspects of such proceedings to ensure a unified, consistent approach. For example, when a Bermuda company confronted a series of disputes over an investment it made in Chile with
co-investors from Chile, Canada, and the United States, Williams & Connolly lawyers directed litigation strategy in each of the relevant countries with close attention to the legal regimes and customs of each country and careful oversight of how developments in one country would impact strategy in the other countries.

The firm's attorneys have represented clients involved in disputes
all over the world, including:

Europe - Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece,
Holland, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the United
Kingdom, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and the former Yugoslavia

Asia and the South Pacific Region - China, Indonesia,
India, Japan, Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, and
Australia

Middle East - Bahrain, Israel, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and
the United Arab Emirates

Americas - Argentina, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, British
Virgin Islands, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, (Emphasis supplied, MBV) Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela

Africa - Congo (Brazzaville and Kinshasa), Madagascar, São
Tomé and Principe, and South Africa


W&C has some powerful partners, including Clinton impeachment lawyer Gregory B. Craig (as was Lanny Breuer, DOJ Gunwalker conspirator). Craig made headlines when he became one of the first of the Clinton camp to endorse Obama, and the ABA Journal predicted in its November 2008 edition that Craig would be named Secretary of State in an Obama administration. However, Craig was ultimately appointed as White House Counsel in the administration, a post he later resigned, supposedly being forced out because of his role in advising Obama to close Guantanamo Bay by January 2010, a task that could not be achieved. His resignation became official on 3 January 2010.

Other high-power partners include Kevin M. Downey and David D. Aufhauser. Aufhauser's official bio states:

His areas of practice include arbitration and mediation, litigation, financial services counseling, Patriot Act and FCPA compliance, OFAC and CIFIUS related matters, and legislative and executive branch investigations.

David has previously served as a Managing Director and Global General Counsel of the UBS AG investment bank, and as the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Treasury, supervising the Department’s legal functions in International Affairs, Domestic Banking and Finance, Enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Bureau of Customs, the Office of Foreign Asset Controls, the Secret Service, ATF, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the U.S. Mint.

David currently serves as a senior adviser at the Center of Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, an executive committee director of the Atlantic Council, a trustee of the St. Albans School of Public Service, and has served on the Global Markets Advisory Board of the U.S. government’s National Intelligence Council.


Altogether as serious bunch of players as you will find in the District of Criminals. And Restrepo apprenticed at the knees of these power brokers for three years.

On 12 November 2008, Restrepo, then Obama's chief campaign adviser on Latin American affairs, was interviewed by Processo's J. Jesús Esquivel on "What Obama wants in the U.S. Relationship with Mexico."

Restrepo maintains that Obama is concerned, and to a degree annoyed, that the Mexican people are paying the consequences for decisions made by the government of George W. Bush in the struggle against narcotics trafficking: abandoning programs to reduce drug use, and not allotting more personnel nor economic resources in order to restrain illegal activities in the United States that help organized crime and narcotics trafficking from the other side of the southern border.

"Obama wants first to decrease the demand for drugs in the United States. He is firmly determined to do that which is necessary in order to revitalize the rehabilitation programs that, we well know, work, and that unfortunately have been abandoned in recent years," he emphasized.

Then "we will work to inhibit the flow of weapons, cash and stolen vehicles that go from north to south across our border." (Emphasis supplied, MBV) That is, Restrepo explained, "he wants to close those flows that feed narcotics trafficking," that too have caused the violent struggle of the drug cartels in Mexico for transit routes to the United States."


On 9 January 2009, (Wikileaks reveals) a secret State Department cable warns the new administration of increasing threats by the cartels to U.S. law enforcement. Very prescient in the light of the deaths of agents Terry and Zapata:

R 232312Z JAN 09 ZDS
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 4721
INFO ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
HQ USNORTHCOM
CIA WASHINGTON DC
CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
NSC WASHINGTON DC

S E C R E T MEXICO 000193

NOFORN
E.O. 12958: DNG: CO 01/22/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR SNAR KCRM MX
SUBJECT: THE BATTLE JOINED: NARCO VIOLENCE TRENDS IN 2008 . . .

U.S. Personnel and Institutions Targets?
----------------------------------------

¶12. (C) We have observed a significant up-tick in threats, as well as incidents of surveillance, against USG personnel and properties over the last three months. All threats are treated seriously and precautions taken; fortunately, none has come to fruition.

¶13. (S/NF) On October 12, unknown persons fired gunshots and tossed an un-detonated grenade at the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey. The attack occurred after hours, no one was injured, and little damage occurred. No message was left and we have uncovered no useful intelligence regarding the authors or their motives. One unsubstantiated report cited a source claiming a senior Gulf cartel leader ordered the attack. However, with little hard evidence, no attempt to claim credit and no follow on incident to date, the possibility remains that this was an isolated, possibly even
impulsive, attack not likely undertaken at the behest of senior cartel leaders.

¶14. (C) While the cartels have not yet directly targeted USG law enforcement or other personnel, they have shown little reticence about going after some of our most reliable partners in Mexican law enforcement agencies. Ten close DEA law enforcement liaison officers have been killed since 2007, seven of whom were members of Special Vetted Units. Similarly, within the past two years 51 close FBI contacts have been murdered. More than sixty of Mexico's best law enforcement officers in whom we have placed our trust and with whom we have collaborated on sensitive investigations,
shared intelligence and in many cases trained and vetted have been murdered by the cartels. We do know from sources that cartel members have at least contemplated the possibility of doing harm to both our personnel and institutions, but we frankly don't know enough about how DTO members think and operate to know what factors might trigger a decision to mount such an attack, but the potential threat is very real.

¶15. (C) We assess that the threat to U.S. personnel could increase if the violence continues to escalate and more high-level government officials and political leaders are targeted. Also, a reaction may be triggered if traffickers perceive their losses are due to U.S. support to the GOM's counter-narcotics efforts. We will continue to monitor potential threats to U.S. personnel from organized criminal gangs and be alert to information that suggests drug traffickers increasingly see the U.S. hand as responsible for their losses.


On 25 February 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the Obama administration’s appetite for a new “Assault Weapons Ban” and was immediately slapped down in public by Democrats including Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel.

On 25 March 2009, Secretary of State Clinton conferred with Mexican President Calderon.

A secret State Department cable that was posted on Wikileaks reveals that in the room for the U.S. were Clinton; Charge D'affaires Leslie Bassett; Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon; Laura Pena, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State; and Dan Restrepo, Senior Director, National Security Council. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.) Mexico was represented by President Calderon, Foreign Secretary Espinosa, Ambassador to the U.S. Sarukhan, Under Secretary Rico and Presidential Advisor Fernandez de Castro.

From the cable Summary: “During an extremely cordial conversation with Secretary Clinton, President Calderon emphasized his personal commitment to providing security for Mexican citizens, pressed for greater U.S. actions against arms trafficking, (Emphasis supplied, MBV) conveyed concerns about how the issue of Cuba will be treated at the upcoming Summit of the Americas, and discussed his ideas for global action on environmental issues.”

The cable details:

6. (C) President Calderon acknowledged that our agenda is broader than security, but turned to that topic as the most urgent. His personal commitment was to leave his successor a secure Mexico with credible institutions free of the taint of corruption. To succeed he needed U.S. support, and suggested renewing the assault weapons ban.

He said that there was a clear correlation between the lifting of the ban in 2004 and Mexico's current situation. During the six years of the Fox administration, Mexican forces captured 3,000 assault weapons. In the last two years, they confiscated 16,000, with no end in sight. The availability of assault weaponry had contributed to the cartels' new aggression against government forces. A second factor was cartels' expanding interests. While they still fought for access to the U.S. market, they were increasingly seeking to control the growing Mexican drug market, as well. The combination of assault weapons and an increased imperative for geographic control prompted the dramatic increases in violence Mexico had recently witnessed. The third factor was the Mexican government's increased pressure on the cartels. . .

10. (C) Secretary Clinton responded that her message was one of co-responsibility and cooperation. She was personally committed to making sure both countries succeed. The United States would do its share. In the coming weeks, AG Holder and DHS Secretary Napolitano would visit Mexico to further this important dialogue.

The Obama Administration had announced on March 20 a series of new measures along the U.S. border to impede smuggling or arms and cash into Mexico. The Secretary said she could not be confident that an assault weapons ban would be passed by Congress, but she was confident the Administration would use every means to aggressively enforce existing law. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.) She offered to share ideas with Mexico on demand reduction in both countries. She affirmed the Administration's absolute confidence that Calderon would succeed in his efforts, and that the United States would be with him every step of the way.


The day before, on 24 March 2009, Jackie Vega of the Associated Press, reported: "Gun debate crosses into border struggle
Possible solution hangs over U.S.-Mexico violence."

Congress may be alarmed by the surge in Mexican drug violence and its potential to spill across the border, but its members grow silent when the talk turns to gun control as a solution.

With related kidnappings and killings occurring in the United States, the Obama administration is likely to shift dozens of enforcement agents and millions of dollars to the fight against Mexican drug cartels. . .

However, when Attorney General Eric Holder suggested reinstituting a United States ban on the sale of certain semiautomatic weapons, many lawmakers balked. The 1994 ban expired after 10 years.

Mexico has long tried to get the United States to curtail the number of guns, many purchased legally, that wind up south of the border where gun laws are much stricter. The State Department said firearms obtained in the United States make up an estimated 95 percent of Mexico's drug-related killings.

Yet, when border violence comes up in hearings, lawmakers said they do not see a need for new gun laws. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas heads the GOP's Senate election committee.

"I don't think the solution to Mexico's problems is to limit Second Amendment gun rights in this country," said Cornyn. . .

Federal officials said the president's effort to shift dozens of enforcement agents and millions of dollars to the fight against Mexican drug cartels is not a static response, indicating success will change the dynamic. National Security Council official Dan Restrepo said that is a "problem risk" that they welcome. Restrepo said the need to be adaptable is one of the things they are trying to emphasize, by working effectively and in a coordinated fashion across the federal government. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.)

"The U.S.-Mexico relationship, the Southwest border, implicates pieces of the government that need to be coordinated at the federal level (Emphasis supplied, MBV.) and then obviously with state and local officials," Restrepo said. "That effort is a dynamic one, one that is on-going."

Restrepo cited Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's invaluable insights as a former border governor. The National Security Council official said the dynamic response will be adjusted as authorities go along and as President Obama directs them to make sure they stay on top of the issue.

"The steps that we are taking today is part of an on-going process," Restrepo said. "Success will require an adjustment of resources as we move forward."


April 2009: The Center for American Progress issues a report: Transcending the Rio Grande: U.S.-Mexico relations need to reach beyond the border. Recommendations of our Mexico Working Group.

Political and economic relations between the United States and Mexico are at a defining moment. Exploding drug-related violence along the U.S.-Mexico border and the inability of both nations to stem the flow of drugs from the south—and lethal weaponry from the north—increasingly feeds powerful criminal groups in both countries. Add to this lethal mix the still reverberating consequences of the global financial and economic crisis and it’s easy to see why U.S.-Mexico relations are rising to the fore of U.S. foreign, economic, and national security concerns.

Indeed, 60 days into his administration, President Obama unveiled in March a new border security strategy as a central component of the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative originally signed in 2008 to address growing bilateral concerns about the increasingly devastating effect drug-trafficking organizations are having on public safety and institutional integrity in Mexico, as well as the strain these organizations are placing on U.S. law enforcement agencies. Several weeks later, Mexico said it would turn to the International Monetary Fund for a $30 billion-to-$40 billion loan under an IMF program designed to help developing nations hit hard by the global financial crisis.

Neither of these critical steps to restore political and economic stability on both sides of the border was envisioned when a working group on U.S.-Mexico relations was first convened in February 2008 by former Senior Fellow and Director of the Americas Project at the Center for American Progress, Dan Restrepo. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.) But the members of the working group understood in no uncertain terms the broader ramifications of deteriorating working relationships between the two countries. All realized the simmering crisis along the border was rapidly penetrating ever more deeply into the interiors of both nations.

The members of the working group assembled by the Center for American Progress, representing a diverse range of expertise and ideological perspectives on the U.S.-Mexico relationship, met four times between February to May 2008 before the Center embarked upon drafting the final report now in your hands. Our working group consisted of 11 members and two congressional staff observers, with several prominent experts with experience in the most critical aspects of U.S.-Mexico relations invited to address the group. Their insights and views were particularly invaluable to informing the content of this report.

A working draft of this document was completed in January 2009, at which time the conclusion of the report was handled by the Research Associate for the Americas Project, Stephanie Miller, and the Senior Vice President for National Security at the Center for American Progress, Rudy deLeon. . .

This report contains concrete policy recommendations to help the Obama administration strengthen and deepen the U.S.-Mexico relationship, focusing on ways the United States can create a more progressive and robust relationship with Mexico in four critical areas:

• Improving the rule of law and judicial reform in Mexico.

• Stopping the illegal flow of arms and money from the United States to Mexico.

• Finding ways to enhance economic development.

• Promoting alternative energy cooperation and development.


Under the heading of "Reduce arms trafficking," the report says:

The United States needs to define a comprehensive strategy aimed at disrupting the traffic of arms to Mexico. This strategy must emphasize preventive initiatives on both sides of the border alongside effective controls on the sale of weapons at gun shows in the United States. Renewing the U.S. ban on assault weapons would help curb some the movement of these lethal military weapons to Mexico.

The United States should also examine more southbound traffic, and in turn Mexico must examine a lot more of what is coming into the United States. Right now Mexico barely stops any cars coming into Mexico from the United States. Just as Mexico often says the United States has a drug-demand problem and needs to address it, the same can now be said for Mexico’s firearms-demand problem, and can do more at the points of entry.

To improve the effective and timely exchange of intelligence on major U.S.-based trafficking of weapons handled by organizations with links to Mexican and Central American criminal organizations, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives needs increased resources to investigate straw purchasers and rogue licensed firearms dealers in the United States. Many of Mexico’s guns seem to be coming from a combination of small minority of rogue gun dealers, legitimate gun dealers who unknowingly sell to non-prohibited purchasers who then intend to give the guns to a third party—so-called “straw purchases”—and sales at gun shows. More resources would greatly help investigations at these places.

In addition, the ATF needs to increase its presence in Mexico at our consulates and work more closely with Mexico law enforcement to trace weapons back to U.S. dealers. Much of this has already begun in the form of Spanish eTrace and Project Gunrunner, which were established to disrupt firearms trafficking between the United States and Mexico by allowing the ATF to identify drug trafficking firearm trends by facilitating the paperless exchange of gun crime data in a secure web-based format. But more can be done. The Department of Homeland Security, however, should remain the lead on these efforts and should direct the ATF to work closely with other law enforcement agencies, such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in operations to:

• Interdict weapons crossing U.S. borders.

• Devise new programs to share tracing capabilities with the appropriate Mexican authorities.

• Close off trafficking corridors.

• Expand actionable, real-time intelligence cooperation.

• Aggressively pursue prosecutions, interdictions and arrests of individuals seeking to move firearms across the border.

• Establish a specific program to trace and disrupt the trafficking to Mexico of highpowered, military grade weaponry. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.)


April 2009: Obama makes Mexico his first Latin American stop on his way to the Summit of the Americas. Carin Zissis reports:

President Barack Obama pays a visit to his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderón this week on the way to the Summit of the Americas. Security and close cultural ties will be on the menu even if spicy food is not. A surge in U.S. media coverage about violence fueled by drug cartels in Mexico has coincided with Washington’s recognition of its role in drug consumption and money laundering. But arms smuggling will be a major consideration. As Mexico's attorney general told USA Today, "For Mexico, the No. 1 priority is guns. The No. 2 priority is guns. The No. 3 priority is guns." The two presidents already met and now Obama will be making his first visit to Mexico and speculation grows over how bilateral relations can and should evolve.

Before Obama arrived in Mexico, the White House took steps to signal support for Mexico's battle with drug lords. The president imposed sanctions on three of Mexico's largest drug cartels, allowing the federal government to sieze their assets. The White House is expected to announce a nominee for "border czar"—a position that will focus on violence and crime in the border area. The Department of Homeland Security also that Alan Bersin, a former Justice Department official, will become the "border czar." The new position will focus on smuggling and human trafficking on the border.

While running for office, Obama promised to repair the U.S.-Mexican relationship. Over the past month, White House cabinet members laid the groundwork for their chief. In early April, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder met with President Felipe Calderón to talk about border security. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.) Their trip came on the heels of one by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, when she acknowledged that the United States shares the blame for the violence stemming from the drug war in Mexico.

On the eve of Clinton’s visit, the Department of Homeland Security launched a multi-agency border security initiative that ramps up manpower and technology to combat smuggling of drugs from and arms to Mexico. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.) Speaking on Worldfocus, AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini called the new border security plan “a step in the right direction” and said the Obama administration’s proactive approach to demonstrated “a real sense of partnership.”

In keeping with the new security plan, Obama will back Calderón’s efforts to fight the drug cartels. Daniel Restrepo, the White House assistant on hemispheric affairs, told reporters the president will be “reinforcing the support for the Mexican government's efforts in Mexico and doing our part on our side of the border.” He also indicated that Obama will respond to Mexican concerns over the slow pace of funds for security guaranteed under the Merida Initiative. Still, as the San Francisco Chronicle points out, Restrepo was less forthcoming on whether the White House would support reinstating a ban on assault rifles, which make their way into Mexico. The ban was allowed to lapse in 2004 during the Bush administration.

Advice flows in for the Obama administration as to how the White House should support efforts to end the drug war deaths in Mexico, which numbered over 6,000 in 2008. In an op-ed for the New York Times, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime Antonio Maria Costa urges Washington to control gun trafficking across the border by adopting the UN Firearms Protocol. . .

Despite the recent focus on Mexico’s drug war, signs point to the violence easing up. The number of deaths related to the drug war dropped by 26 percent in the first quarter of 2009. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.)


On 13 April 2009: Restrepo, by then described as "Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, participated in a teleconference for the media (“President Obama Heads to Mexico, Summit of the Americas April 16-19,”) with Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow, U.S. Director Summit of the Americas, and Denis McDonough, director for Strategic Communications, National Security Council.

Restrepo answers this question:

Question: Thanks. I'll throw this out to anyone. On a "Face the Nation" interview yesterday, the Mexican ambassador suggested that it would be helpful if the United States enacted an assault weapons ban. How will the President approach that issue when he sits down with President Calderón? And what are the President's current thoughts on an assault weapons ban?

MR. RESTREPO: This is Dan Restrepo. The President understands the challenges presented by the illegal flow of weapons from the United States to Mexico, that is why he took the steps that were announced by the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice a few weeks ago, to do more with our own law enforcement capacity to confront those southward flows, to ensure that we are enforcing the laws of the United States as they exist today -- believes we can make a great deal of headway enforcing the laws that are on the books today and make a real positive difference in terms of the flow, the illegal flow of weapons to Mexico. That is the message that the President will be carrying with him.

He looks forward to speaking President Calderón on ways that we can work together more effectively to cut these illegal flows. And again, it's forcing and reinforcing the support for the Mexican government's efforts in Mexico and doing our part on our side of the border.


On 5 June 2009, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) released its 2009 National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy, which, for the first time, includes a chapter on combating illicit arms trafficking to Mexico. Prior to the new policy announcement, the U.S. government did not have a strategy that explicitly addressed arms trafficking to Mexico. (See "Hiding in plain sight: The real Obama Administration Rosetta Stone reveals the bureaucratic origins of the Gunwalker Scandal.")

It claimed these "Strategic objectives":

1. Enhance intelligence capabilities associated with the Southwest border.

2. Interdict drugs, drug proceeds, and associated instruments of violence at the ports of entry, between the ports of entry, and in the air and maritime domains along the Southwest border.

3. Ensure the prosecution of all significant drug trafficking, money laundering, bulk
currency, and weapons smuggling/trafficking cases.

4. Disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations.

5. Enhance counterdrug technologies for drug detection and interdiction along the
Southwest border.


My sources now say that Restrepo had a "guiding input" into this new policy.

24 July 2009: A Secret Cable from Us Embassy in Mexico City:

NSC FOR DAN RESTREPO; DEPT FOR WHA DAS JACOBSON, MEX
DIRECTOR LEE, D STAFF CUE, AND INR HOHMAN.

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/24/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR MX
SUBJECT: MEXICO: MORE INTERAGENCY COOPERATION NEEDED ON
INTELLIGENCE ISSUES . . .

¶1. (S/NF) Summary. President Calderon's security strategy lacks an effective intelligence apparatus to produce high quality information and targeted operations. Embassy officers working with the GOM report that Mexico's use of strategic and tactical intelligence is fractured, ad hoc, and reliant on U.S. support. Despite their myriad inefficiencies and deficiencies, Mexican security services broadly recognize the need for improvement. Sustained U.S. assistance can help shape and fortify the technical capacity of institutions and can also create a more reliable, collegial inter-agency environment.


On 1 October 2009, Alejandra Labanca writing in the Miami Herald in a story entitled "Mexican drug cartels might target U.S. businesses" reports:

On Wednesday, Dan Restrepo, special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council, pointed out that the current administration is committed to continue cooperating with Mexico. He said Washington has increased resources for drug programs and beefed up security along the southwest border to try to constrain the rampant smuggling of assault weapons heading into Mexico. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.


We now know that it was sometime in the fall of 2009 that someone in the Obama administration at some level green-lighted what would become the "Gunwalker scandal."

On 4 October 2009, a secret State Department cable posted by Wikileaks, Acting Attorney General of Mexico Alcantara hosted a dinner for Deputy Attorney General for the Criminal Division Lanny Breuer September 21 in Mexico City. Other U.S. attendees
included Deputy Assistant AG Bruce Swartz, Deputy Assistant AG for Criminal Division Kenneth Blanco, Special Assistant to the AG Paul Rosen, DOJ Attache Tony Garcia and NAS Director Keith Mines.

On 22 May 2010, with the 2010 mid-term elections looming, it was reported in Mexico that in an interview Restrepo had announced "Obama will not ban the sale of arms."

The government of President Barack Obama will not push a bill to ban the sale of high-powered arms, as Mexican President Felipe Calderón had asked the U.S. Congress according to an official at the White House.

It is not expected that a bill will be pushed in the Congress on this subject, Dan Restrepo told reporters, a National Security Council Hemispheric Affairs advisor.

Restrepo indicated that the government is taking measures so that federal agencies which must control the flow of arms from the United States to Mexico continue, and apprehend “those who violate the laws of the United States.” (Emphasis supplied, MBV.)

During his speech before the joint session of Congress, Calderón asked that the ban on the sale of high-powered arms be renewed, in order to brake the supply of munitions that cross the common border and end up in the hands of the drug cartels in Mexico.

The U.S. Congress ended the ban in 2004.

Mexico has raised on many occasions the ease by which arms in the United States help organized crime by supplying them, but the request of a foreign chief of state that the Congress approve a specific law, especially one so controversial, drew criticism from several legislators.

In statements to Hispanic media, Restrepo said that ban “has been a topic of discussion every time the president of the U.S., Barack Obama, has met with President Felipe Calderon.”

Obama “has been clear that he thinks we have to do more to cut the flow of illegal arms from the United States to Mexico, and we take and are going to continue taking steps to do exactly that”, he said.

Nevertheless, emphasized the high official, the White House “has no intention to push such a bill in the Congress.”

In place of that, he specified, the White House intends to put the emphasis on cutting the flow of arms and money going north and south by means of steps that federal agencies which have that responsibility are adopting, such as the Department of Homeland Security. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.)

Also, emphasis will be put, said Restrepo, on enforcing the current laws of the U.S. against those who are violating them, who are part of the problem.”

“That is what the president of the United States has committed himself to, and that is what we are doing”, stated the high official.

Nevertheless, the daily The Washington Post supported Calderon’s request and indicated that the government of Obama, “has been very absent in the fight against the sale of illegal arms.

“On the subject of arms, the U.S. president should learn a lesson on principle from his Mexican counterpart”, it added.

Calderon visited the capitol on Wednesday and Thursday, when he met with Obama and came to a state dinner in his honor and gave the speech before the Congress.


As the "gunwalking" continued throughout the latter part of 2009 and through 2010 until the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry on 14 December 2010, the issue of greatest import to the administration's hopes of getting another "assault weapons" ban and a "gun show loophole" bill depended entirely on the outcome of the 2010 mid-terms, which is where the circumspection on previous demands for a new AWB came from. The administration knew that it could expect some losses but did not anticipate the political disaster that it sustained. Critical to those pre-election hopes was the increasing death toll in Mexico with more and more American civilian market firearms found at crime scenes. With the loss of the House and the deaths of Brian Terry and then Jaime Zapata and -- especially -- the whistle-blowing of courageous ATF agents like John Dodson, Darren Gil and others, the comprehensive plan that resulted in the Gunwalker scandal collapsed completely. Now they are in cover-up mode, big time.

Still, citizen disarmament advocates, Democrat politicians and others continue to call for more restrictions on honest firearm owners, gun stores and gun shows and more power and money for the ATF.

When the various committees of Congress finally get around to investigating "Project Gunwalker" and where it came from, it would seem to me that Dan Restrepo would be a good witness to put under oath. He was the original architect of the Obama Mexico policies while still at the Center for American Progress, and has been in the National security Council with an eagle's eye view of things ever since. We know that this scandal involved considerable inter-agency sharing of information and actions. Such bureaucratic operations across jurisdictional lines require a coordinator, someone at the level of the National Security Council, an Oliver North for example, to oversee the various parts.

Is Dan Restrepo the Oliver North of the Gunwalker Scandal?

Let's ask him.

Under oath.

Mike Vanderboegh

Grab a few agents who we know were damn well in the middle of this, charge them with some local crime in a jurisdiction that is not particularly sympathetic to their "cause" and after a few months in solitary they will be telling us everything...

This is a clear case of the perps not being "busted", just known. They gave up the fall guys a few months ago, but not a single official is going down for this.

In the dope world, this would be the equivalent to the DEA setting up a high school crack dealer supplier just to get a bigger bust for charging more kids as adults for dealing in a school zone. Oh yeah, I forgot, .gov has done that too.

ATF Boss Threatened with Contempt Charge
|
Written by Alex Newman
Wednesday, 27 April 2011

As a congressional investigation of the Obama administration’s “Project Gunrunner” scandal proceeds, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif., picture, left) is threatening ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson with contempt of Congress charges if he continues to defy a subpoena demanding documents. The controversial government operation being probed, known as “Fast and Furious,” deliberately put high-powered weapons into the hands of known criminals — with tragic results.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Department of Justice have come under intense scrutiny in recent months as details of the ill-fated scheme emerged through whistleblowers and news reports. Some of the firearms the ATF essentially gave to the cartels likely ended up being involved in hundreds of murders on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. A few of those guns were even involved in the deaths of at least two federal law enforcement officers.

Despite the severity of the charges and the uproar being created, the Obama administration has refused to cooperate so far. But now, Congress is really turning up the heat.

"If you do not comply with the subpoena, the Committee will be forced to commence contempt proceedings," Rep. Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wrote in a letter to Melson last week after the Bureau missed an April 13 deadline to hand over the documents.

Congressional requests for relevant information have been pending for months. But when the Obama administration refused to submit documents for the investigation, Rep. Issa was forced to issue a subpoena on March 31.

The Department of Justice, however, continued to claim that it has an internal “policy” that prevents it from providing the information. But Rep. Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who is also probing the scandal, say that won’t cut it.

“Efforts by the Department of Justice and ATF to stonewall the committee in its investigation by erroneously, but matter-of-factly, citing an internal department policy as a preventative measure for denying access to documents have only enhanced suspicions that such officials have played a role in reckless decisions that have put lives at risk,” Rep. Issa charged in the letter, noting that “inappropriate” decisions by “top Justice Department officials” allegedly contributed to the deaths of Mexicans and Americans.

On the Senate floor on April 14, Sen. Grassley made similar assertions. “The ATF is supposed to stop criminals from trafficking guns to Mexican drug cartels, [but] was actually making that trafficking of arms easier for them,” he said. “That would be bad enough if it happened because of incompetence or turf battles, but it looks like the agency was doing this on purpose.” And with the help of whistleblowers and House Republicans, he intends to get to the bottom of it, no matter how much the Obama administration tries to block the probe.

Citing Supreme Court decisions and precedents in other investigations, Rep. Issa noted in his most recent letter that Congress was legally entitled to the information it was requesting. “As a co-equal branch of government, Congress has a right, even a constitutional obligation, to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch, including the Department of Justice,” he said. Plus, there is “no constitutional, statutory, or case law authority” that would allow the department to withhold evidence using the excuses it is citing.

Attached to the letter were several documents obtained by congressional investigators from whistleblowers and other sources. That evidence appears to prove that the ATF and the DOJ knew about the dangers of the program, but continued to pressure gun dealers into supplying the heavy weaponry to criminals — even after the sellers and ATF agents expressed concern on numerous occasions. And according to Issa, decisions about the program were “more than likely” made by DOJ officials “at the highest levels.”

The department claims to be conducting its own probe into the scandal. After the uproar about the program became deafening, Attorney General Eric Holder ordered his Inspector General to review the operation. But for Issa and others, that won’t suffice.

"Let me be clear: [W]e are not conducting a concurrent investigation with the Department of Justice, but rather an independent investigation of the Department of Justice — specifically, of allegations that the reckless and inappropriate decisions of Department officials have created a serious public safety hazard,” the letter stated. And it’s not going away.

Apparently Congress and whistleblowers don’t trust the DOJ’s ability to properly investigate itself. “The committee continues to pursue this matter vigorously, in part, because concerned individuals have indicated they do not have confidence in the department’s ability to review the actions of its own top officials,” Rep. Issa noted in his letter to ATF boss Melson.

The Obama administration insists that the controversial program was supposed to keep track of the weapons in an effort to bust gun smuggling networks. But allegations appearing in recent weeks claim that officials may have deliberately allowed the guns to end up with criminals in an effort to demonize the Second Amendment and impose further restrictions on Americans’ right to keep and bear arms.

The outcry surrounding the scandal is growing louder every day. Gun-rights groups in particular are furious about the administration’s stonewalling, with some calling for the immediate resignation of ATF director Melson.

"President Obama promised to give Americans a transparent administration when he took office, but the only thing transparent about this scandal is the administration's obvious effort to ignore the investigation until it goes away," asserted Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. "If the administration has nothing to hide, the White House would immediately order the Justice Department and ATF to open their files to the Capitol Hill investigations.”

Gottlieb said Obama had a “credibility problem” and that Melson should step down for failing to respond to the subpoena. "We're waiting for the White House to tell us that 'this isn't Watergate,' and they would be right,” he added. “Nobody got killed because of Watergate. The geniuses who allowed Gunrunner to get out of control can't say that.”

If contempt proceedings end up moving forward, a grand jury would be formed in Washington. A conviction for contempt of Congress could result in Obama administration officials paying hefty fines — or even serving time in jail. The ATF said Rep. Issa’s last letter was “being reviewed.”

Breacher, for that tactic to work they'd have to be "disappeared" as it'd be likely their employers would be looking for them. "Diesel therapy" between jursidictions willing to keep them locked up. Just saying "I don't know" to whatever feds show up may not work.

Congress does have one trump card, the budget.

What would happen if Congress were to defund the BATFE in the next Budget?

That might put a damper in that Agencies Fun and Games.

I believe that was done once when the BATFE tried back door Firearms Registration without the consent of Congress.

Whom ever holds the Purse Strings to a thing controls that thing.

ATF agents say motive of gun smuggling was to hype anti-gun hysteria--and kill

* April 11th, 2011 Anthony Martin

* Conservative Examiner http://www.examiner.com/conservativ...g-was-to-hype-anti-gun-hysteria-and-kill


In the days since the story was first reported that the ATF-DOJ concocted a scheme to run or 'walk' U.S. guns into Mexico, various theories have been presented as to the motive. The official explanation is that the U.S. wanted to track the guns as they made their way from Mexican operatives, to the drug cartels, and to the front lines of the cartels' criminal activity, all in an effort to supposedly help the ATF catch drug kingpins. Various other theories have been presented as well, several of which have made their way into the mainstream media--that is, except for the correct one.

Whistleblower ATF agents have made it clear as to the motive for the illegal scheme that has created an 'international incident' between the U.S. Government and the Government of Mexico. The agents themselves are adamant that their superisors planned the scheme in order to pad statistics that would show U.S. guns are fueling the drug cartels, that the U.S. has a major problem with lax gun laws, and then provide an impetus for the Obama Administration and other gun control advocates to hype up anti-gun hysteria--all in support of another round of restrictive gun laws.

But there is a much more sinister motive at play.

Mike Vanderboegh, who, along with David Codrea, first broke the story of this sordid scheme, reports today that the media is willing to roll out any theory as plausible, except for the one the agents themselves say is the correct one. In fact, one writer referred to the agents' story as a 'tin foil hat' theory.

As noted in Vanderboegh's response the motive was not only about padding statistics. The ATF needed stacks of Mexican bodies lying next to the weapons that came from the U.S.

And that is precisely what they got. A total of 28,000 Mexicans have been murdered in the drug wars over the last few years. Stacks of bodies have, indeed, been found near the border and in small towns nearby. U.S. guns have, indeed, been linked to many of these killings, and one was used to kill a U.S. Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, last year.
Advertisement

Thus, it is safe to say that ATF supervisors allegedly ordered the gun smuggling scheme not only to pad U.S. gun statistics but to kill--a serious charge, no doubt, but one that whistleblower agents are convinced is the truth.

In another breaking development today, it is being reported that ATF agents are being summoned to Washington, yet again, this time to conduct high level strategy meetings concerning what to do now that Phoenix field office assistant special agent-in-charge George Gillett is spilling the beans to Senator Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Representative Darrell Issa, R-California, in their investigations into the scandal.

The response of the ATF hierarchy at this point appears to be to throw Gillett under the bus, given that he was not invited to an earlier meeting of agents in D.C. The latest meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, should reveal interesting details on strategy.

No doubt a cover-up is in process, given that ATF director Melson and DOJ Attorney-General Eric Holder have refused to cooperate with Congressional investigations into this gargantuan scandal. The cover-up maneuver is intricate but evident, as this report shows.

More information will be reported as it becomes available.

Be sure to catch my blog at The Liberty Sphere.

Visit my ministry site at Martin Christian Ministries.

ATF Director Expected to Resign; Anti-Gun Nominee Picked For Replacement


CNN
June 20th, 2011

The acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and firearms is expected to resign amid the ongoing controversy over the "Fast and Furious" operation, two senior federal law enforcement sources told CNN.
...
Attorney General Eric Holder will meet Tuesday with Andrew Traver, head of the ATF field office in Chicago about potentially serving as acting director of the ATF to replace Melson.
...

Read the rest here... http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/2...esign-in-wake-of-mexico-gun-controversy/

Issa staffer says Gunrunner investigation points much higher than ATF director. Which we sort of figured all along:

Onward and upward,
airforce

Gun Owners of America calls for dissolving the ATF.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Another "Gunwalker" gun has been used in a murder. This time, of the brother of a Mexican state attorney general.

Bonus points to anyone who can answer the question: How many people died in the Watergate scandal?

Onward and upward,
airforce

ATF chief Kenneth Melson will testify before Congress on Operation Fast and Furious. Who else in the Obama administration knew about this? We may soon find out. This can't be good news for Eric Holder.

Onward and upward,
airforce

I don't usually agree with Mexican government officials. In fact, I don't usually agree with government officials, period. But I agree with this one.

Yeah, I'd like to see a bunch of these ignorant jerks sitting in a Mexican jail. It would be sort of fitting, don't you think?

Onward and upward,
airforce

Emails show Gunwalker was known throughout the Justice Department (pdf). Eric Holder just had to have known about it.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Yeah, I'd like to see a bunch of these ignorant jerks sitting in a Mexican jail. It would be sort of fitting, don't you think?-Airforce

Can we televise it?

I mean, they got a show called "Jail" where you get all kinds of folks in Intake... we could wire the cells and throw some prime, lily ATF bureaucrats and agents in. Ought to please the blood and circus types.

"Fast and Furious" gets hotter for Holder.

Onward and upward,
airforce

FBI was complicit with Gunrunner scandal. They operate the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and these two convicted felons should not have been allowed to purchase even one firearm. Instead, they were allowed to purchase 360 guns.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Here is William Newell, former head of the Phoenix ATF field office. Among other things, he said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service, were "full partners" with the ATF in Operation Fast and Furious.

This is turning out to be bigger than Watergate ever was.

Onward and upward,
airforce

The White House knew.

Where are Woodward and Bernstein when we need them?

Onward and upward,
airforce

September 2010.....What else was going on about that same time.......Oh, I know!

Operation Defiant Sentinel

http://usborderfirereport.com/fire_fight.htm
Quote:
"The Arizona Citizens Militia will conduct a Leaders Reconnaissance along the Arizona border from 9 – 13 September. Leaders and representatives from state Militias all over the USA have been invited to accompany ACM patrols, to be conducted in the most dangerous parts of the Arizona border area."

Could the Gunrunner Project have just been a way to help the drug cartels to kill us American Militiamen?

I'm thinking yes. Or at least its just a bonus for the spousal abusers at the BATFE and Obama Administration.

Look at it this way: if we ever ally ourselves with Mexicans looking to overthrow the banksters and narcotrafficers we have an in here-we've all been victimized by these cocksuckers.

Along that same line of reasoning:

Were the southern border with Mexico actually sealed off, the Mexicans would have their own revolution within weeks.

Cheap goods come (came) from China, and cheap labor comes from Mexico.

These are two of the reasons that price inflation is not resonating as realistically as it should.

Additionally, the money (FRNs) earned by illegals, are wired or transported to Mexico, which in turn keeps them economically sound.

If there are Mexicans who want to rebel, they are being kept in check by the porous U.S. border policy.

Seal the borders and then projects Gunrunner, Fast and Furious, et. al., will no longer seem as important as the violent revolution(s) which will ensue.

[b]Fast and Furious[/b] supervisors promoted.

Score another one for the forces of evil and stupidity.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Just another abuse in a long list.

Typical fed.gov promotion scheme:

F*ck up

Cover up

Shut up

Move up


BATFE and DOJ are waving this sh*t in our faces, as if to say, "What are you gonna do about it?"

What will it take to end this egregious injustice, blatant corruption, and lucrative rewards system for the absolute worst that "law enforcement" has to offer humanity?

Rep. Issa is a nice man who exposed this illegal action by the government.

Now, what is he going to do about those who violated the Constitution ? Three have already received promotions and raises.

Bottom line, more talk, no action. He has the evidence. So, why isn't he even mentioning criminal prosecution ? The only time he mentioned doing anything is over the obstruction complaint against the DOJ for stonewalling His Committee, and hurting the Committee's ego. There is more to this than their ego !

Politicians all !

Imagrunt is right, this whole thing is getting waved in our faces by the "sovereign immunity" above-the-law crowd.

Word I got from a guy from AZ is the place involved with this is J&G sales which is a very high volume outfit that does both retail and wholesale, and their idea of "cooperating fully" for the last few years has been to collect information on all purchases, of all guns and ammunition, and turning it over to the ATF, this even includes everything down to a box of 22 shells.

I know people go got busted and did prison time for selling a few guns to a "friend" who was posing as a resident of another state, when in fact, the "friend" was an ATF infiltration agent and having a criminal record was not the issue (none involved had a prior record).

A single three gun purchase is enough to "bust" someone who is a prior felon, although I hear the feds prefer to get the felon on selling the guns rather than buying them, as they did in a big pawnshop sting here in Portland recently. The feds were running a pawnshop/headshop which was taking guns in trade for stuff like meth cooking gear and car stereos, giving out the reputation they would buy any and all guns. Lots of felons got burned walking in and selling/trading guns on closed circuit camera. They got something like 20 cases out of keeping the place open for only six months and never distributed any guns anywhere, just bought guns. They even nailed some tweaker who had traded in a Sten gun for some cash and other head shop stuff like a substance used to dilute (cut) meth.

Apparently, these "cartel" guys were given some preference at J&G sales, going in about every week to buy guns, and sometimes along with their handler/agent just to make sure it all went smoothly. How they privelage outright dope pushing felons at that level and then continue to deny basic rights to guys like Bladrunner and a few others here who got burned is beyond my tolerance level.

I know a few things we can do about it:

1.)Boycott J&G. They want to get in bed with the traitors in Washington; facilitate compiling intel on Americans arming up, aid and abet arresting said Americans, steal their weapons so they can be transferred from ATF inventories to murderous drug cartels-along with whatever truckloads of arms and ammunition those Elmer Fuckers outright sell to them?

Shun them. Spread the word of a boycott. Use the bluntest language you can, use images of murdered Mexicans and incarcerated Americans to emphasize the point. It will be you tomorrow.

2.)I'll repeat this point; we must, MUST find like-minded souls both across the border and among the Mexican Diaspora in America. Find common cause because the enemy wants to dismember our country by sparking a race war. About all the Mexicans I've encountered in the past few years have been reserved and polite; they are not stupid.

All you have to do is find someone to talk to, get a conversation going, because both our peoples are being hurt by this. You find those people, I'm sure you know where to go from there.

3.)Do not let them sweep this under the rug or wave it in our faces with impunity. We must never forget Operation Gunrunner, just like we will never forget 9/11... however way you want to remember that.

The ATF body count is now 62. About 7 1/2 minutes.

Onward and upward,
airforce

The guy who actually started that whole "oathkeeper" thing on Youtube had the general idea of reaching out to find like minded Mexicans, and his last youtube channel had his video messages in both English and Spanish, then when J4P got more popular all of a sudden then got in trouble, the other guy pulled the plug on his channel and was never heard from again.

MSM article about BATFE "shakeup."

Anyone outside of .gov would have been indicted for accessory to murder, but these pieces of excrement get lateral moves.

Please take special note that AG Holder has opted for the sidelines (at least he understands BoR Article 5).

--------------------------------------------------

Obama shakes up gun agency over botched Mexico sting
Reuters By Jeremy Pelofsky | Reuters – 53 mins ago

30Aug2011

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration announced on Tuesday a major shake-up of the U.S. agency that botched an attempt to track weapons smuggled to drug cartels in Mexico after guns were allowed to flow freely over the border.

Kenneth Melson, who has been acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives since 2009, was reassigned after admitting mistakes in the sting operation meant to try to crack down on weapons reaching violent drug gangs from U.S. gun stores.

In further fallout from the operation, the U.S. attorney for Arizona, Dennis Burke, has resigned effective immediately after acknowledging mistakes in the operation. The lead prosecutor on the case, Emory Hurley, has also been reassigned, an Obama administration official said.

Another administration official said the shake-up at ATF was a chance for a "fresh start given everything they've gone through lately."

The sting operation, dubbed "Fast and Furious," has spawned congressional and internal Justice Department probes and put the Obama administration on the defensive about whether dangerous weapons were knowingly allowed to cross the border.

Authorities had hoped they would be able to follow the guns to cartel leaders, but ATF agents did not track the weapons after they were transferred from the initial buyer to others who smuggled them across the border. Some agents have testified that they were not allowed to continue the pursuit.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Melson both issued statements but steered clear of any comments about the controversy. Holder has referred the entire matter to the department's inspector general for an investigation.

Melson will be reassigned to the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy as an adviser on forensic science, the Justice Department said.

The U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Todd Jones, will serve as acting ATF director starting on Wednesday.

U.S. ATTORNEY ADMITS MISTAKES

Burke was interviewed by congressional investigators on August 18 and said he was unaware of the tactical details of the sting and acknowledged that he and his team made mistakes, including not adequately supervising the case.

"It should not have been done the way it was done, and I want to take responsibility for that, and I'm not falling on a sword or trying to cover for anyone else," Burke told them, according to excerpts of his testimony released by Democrats on the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight.

Mexican authorities have complained bitterly about the flow of guns from the United States across the border, where gangs have battled with each other and with Mexican authorities, straining ties between the two countries.

Some 42,000 have died since 2006 as a result of the turf wars. The congressional investigation has turned up evidence that guns sold in the sting have been found at numerous crime scenes in the United States and Mexico.

U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry died in a December 2010 shootout on the American side of the border and two guns found there have been traced to the sting. It is not known if those guns were used to fire the fatal shots.

Some of the weapons recovered at crime scenes include powerful AK-47s and .50 caliber rifles.

Republicans in the U.S. Congress have been demanding the Obama administration explain who knew what and when about the ATF program, which was conceived of and run out of the agency's Phoenix division.

"There are still many questions to be answered about what happened in Operation Fast and Furious and who else bears responsibility," said Republican Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

For years the ATF has been without a director confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The position has been the source of tension between advocates and opponents of gun control.

President Barack Obama has nominated Andrew Traver of the agency's Chicago office to the job, but the gun industry has opposed him. Melson is a career federal employee.

Obama will need to nominate someone to fill the U.S. Attorney's post. Burke previously served as chief of staff to Janet Napolitano when she was Arizona governor.

Melson was interviewed on July 4 by congressional investigators. At that time he acknowledged mistakes had been made and other law enforcement agencies had had critical information they did not share about their targets.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Couldn't they find anyone who had nothing to do with "Fast and Furious?"

Onward and upward,
airforce

Typical government shell game.

Larry pratt of Gun Owners of America talks to Alex Jones about the Gunrunner scandal. About 15 minutes, and well worth your time.

Onward and upward,
airforce