What is operation fast and furious

The critical finding was that DOJ and its enforcement arms had no protocol to evaluate the public-safety risk of letting unlawful firearms remain on the street in order to advance or protect an undercover operation. The new report says ATF carried out all of the proposed reforms , but other DOJ agencies had not developed protocols for deciding how to respond when illegal gun sales occur during stings.

It also criticized DEA policies and practices involving the use of some informants. In an online video , Horowitz said his office "will continue to monitor the Department of Justice in these areas to ensure the law enforcement components have fully applied the lessons of Fast and Furious.

Facebook Twitter Email. October 31, - Phoenix-based ATF agents get a tip from a local gun shop about suspicious purchases of assault rifles by four individuals. The agents begin investigating whether the individuals were "straw purchasers" working for a large-scale illegal gun trafficking organization.

The probe later comes to be known as Operation Fast and Furious. December 14, - Terry is killed during a shootout in the Arizona desert. Five of the men involved in the shootout are later convicted of murder.

One associate is later convicted on conspiracy and firearms offenses in connection with the killing. The last suspect is arrested in and awaiting trial.

January 25, - The US Attorney's office in Arizona announces that 34 suspects have been indicted for firearms trafficking from the United States to Mexico. January 27, - Senator Chuck Grassley of the Senate Judiciary Committee sends a letter to Kenneth Melson, acting director of the ATF, regarding the agency's firearms trafficking investigation and allegations that the ATF allowed hundreds of assault weapons to be smuggled to Mexico.

He notes that two of the guns may have been used by Terry's killers. March 3, - Melson announces the formation of a panel to "review the bureau's current firearms trafficking strategies employed by field division managers and special agents.

May 3, - Holder testifies before the House Judiciary Committee. The guns have found their way north, too. It is difficult to overstate both how stupid and how incompetent were the whole host of federal officials involved in this fiasco, who first thought it was a swell idea to traffic thousands of guns to Mexican criminals, then blithely forgot about them.

It is difficult, too, to overstate the contempt of this administration for transparency, given that, having made those fatal mistakes, its response was to hide them from a congressional inquiry, going so far as to invoke executive privilege to do so. At best, the operation and its aftermath were an exercise in astonishing malpractice; at worst, the administration knowingly exhibited a reckless disregard for human life — then covered it up.

Attorney General Holder and President Obama in Charles C. Brittany Bernstein. The U. Supply Chain Makes No Sense This crisis should prompt a rethinking of the needless inefficiencies we foist on ourselves.

Rich Lowry. The Editors. An Embarrassment for Biden Failure to pass the spending bills is still very much an option. Michael Brendan Dougherty. Nearly two-thirds of the guns are believed to be in Mexico and at least one weapon has been connected to the death of a border patrol agent.

August 30, Only nine people have been charged; it is unknown how many have been hurt. October 26, November 01, Some of the emails suggest the Department of Justice wanted to minimize the amount of information about the gun walking programs that would be made public. December 06, DEA wiretaps provided enough evidence to arrest gun buyers as early as , but the ATF wanted to build their own case instead of sharing the arrests with the DEA, according to a Congressional report.

February 06, Gunwalking suspect pleads guilty to weapons charges, but none involving the murder of Border Patrol agent. April 05, November 02, The report shows agents in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tried to keep rival agents in Homeland Security from discovering they were letting guns into Mexico.

March 26,