Gunwalker scandal: ATF director out of top job
 

Gunwalker scandal: ATF director out of top job
CBS News - online
Sharyl Attkisson
August 30, 2011 11:13 AM

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_16...MainColumnArea

ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson is being moved out of the top job at the Bureau, ATF Special Agents in Charge announced during a conference call with reporters today. He will transfer to the Justice Department and assume the position of senior advisor, Office of Legal Programs.

Melson's move is another in a number of high-level personnel shifts, as the Inspector General continues investigating the so-called gunwalker scandal at the Justice Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.


Follow up to add Politico story that names successor to Melson.

By JENNIFER EPSTEIN |
8/30/11 12:21 PM EDT

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories...#ixzz1WXAKWSFC
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62320.html

Melson’s replacement is B. Todd Jones, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota. Jones “is a demonstrated leader who brings a wealth of experience to this position,” Holder said. “I have great confidence that he will be a strong and steady influence guiding ATF in fulfilling its mission of combating violent crime by enforcing federal criminal laws and regulations in the firearms and explosives industries.”

2 resignations over Operation Fast and Furious
 

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/t...e-eda6412a2d38

Should really be one resignation, Melson was "reassigned".

And the saga continues...a resignation, a few reassignments and a few lateral transfers later we still have no real answers.

Like rats from a sinking ship...they move before that important 2012 election.



Obama shakes up gun agency over botched Mexico sting

By Jeremy Pelofsky | Reuters – 35 mins ago..

http://news.yahoo.com/atf-chief-reas...161949768.html

Excerpts:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Wait tell you see who will replace Melson..........My money is on Anti-Gun Andy Traver.

No doubt we'll get "a demonstrated leader" under this administration.

Meh.

Melson=Fall Guy for Holder and the POTUS.

Stonewalling will continue.

TR

Acting Director Jones
 

Audio of interview with MPR in the linked story below - some generic background on the acting director BATF - he will remain United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota, while serving as acting director.

New acting director of ATF B. Todd Jones will tackle "lack of stability"
Steven John, Minnesota Public Radio,
Sasha Aslanian, Minnesota Public Radio
August 30, 2011

St. Paul, Minn. — Minnesota's U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones will take over as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday.

Jones, who was serving his second stint as U.S. Attorney, will take over an agency that has been receiving heavy criticism over the past few months.

The former head of the ATF, Kenneth Melson, was criticized for a botched sting operation that resulted in guns getting into the hands of violent criminals in Mexico.
The southwest border operation aimed at busting gun traffickers failed to account for missing weapons. Three top leaders were replaced by the Justice Department today.

Jones says he plans to take the pulse inside the agency, refocus its energy on law enforcement priorities, and bring stability to the agency.

"They haven't had a confirmed director at ATF in almost six years," Jones said. "I will be the fifth acting director at ATF and that lack of stability takes its toll on an organization and I go into this knowing full well that there's a lot of work to do."

Jones will continue his duties as Minnesota's US attorney while serving as acting director of the ATF.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/dis...rview/?refid=0


B. TODD JONES

Age: 54, born in Cincinnati

Education: Bachelor of arts, political science, Macalester College in St. Paul; law degree, University of Minnesota .

Military: Served active duty in the Marines until 1989; recalled in 1991 as a Marine Corps Reservist during first Persian Gulf war; commanded the 4th Marine Division's Military Police Company.

Professional: Senior associate attorney, Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly in Minneapolis, 1989-92; managing partner, Greene Espel in Minneapolis, l994-97; assistant U.S. attorney for Minnesota, 1997; U.S. attorney for Minnesota, 1998-2001; partner, Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi in Minneapolis, 2001-08; U.S. attorney for Minnesota, 2009-present.

http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_18792428?source=rss

B. Todd Jones

President Barack Obama formally nominated B. Todd Jones for the position of United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota on June 4, 2009, and he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 7, 2009. United States Attorneys serve as the nation's principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General, and each is the chief federal law enforcement officer of the United States within his or her particular jurisdiction. Attorney General Eric Holder also has appointed Jones to serve as Chair of the Attorney General Advisory Committee (AGAC). This body, consisting of 18 United States Attorneys from around the country, is responsible for advising the Attorney General on a broad array of Department of Justice policy issues.

Prior to becoming U.S. Attorney, Jones was a partner with a major national law firm in Minneapolis, where his practice focused on complex business litigation. He has represented a number of organizations and individuals in both criminal and civil regulatory matters. Jones is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He also has served as special counsel to various boards of directors of public and privately held companies. In that capacity, he has led internal investigations and provided guidance on compliance and governance issues.

This is the second time Jones has served as United States Attorney. President Clinton appointed him to the position in 1998 and he served in that capacity until January 2001. Jones also has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Minnesota. During his initial tenure as a federal prosecutor, Jones conducted grand jury investigations and was the lead trial lawyer in a number of federal prosecutions involving drug trafficking, financial fraud, firearms, and violent crime.

Jones received his Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1983. Following admission to the Minnesota bar, he went on active duty in the United States Marine Corps, where he served as both a trial defense counsel and prosecutor in a number of courts martial proceedings. In 1989, he and his family returned to Minnesota, where he developed a civil litigation practice encompassing a wide variety of legal matters, ranging from products liability defense and insurance coverage disputes to environmental and labor and employment controversies in both a private and public sector setting.

http://www.justice.gov/usao/mn/meetattorney.html

An interesting tidbit from the recent Wikileaks debacle regarding Mexico and Guns..

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogsp...aks-cable.html

Oh what a tangled web BATF and DOJ may weave…

Cover-up in ATF gunwalker case? DUH !
September 1, 2011 6:20 p.m

By Sharyl Attkisson – CBS News online

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_16...-10391695.html

Congressional investigators tell CBS News there's evidence the U.S. Attorney's office in Arizona sought to cover up a link between their controversial gunwalking operation known as "Fast and Furious" and the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

Terry was murdered in Arizona near the US border last December. Two assault rifles ATF had allegedly allowed onto the street without interdiction were found at the scene.

But the US Attorney's office working both the Terry murder and the "Fast and Furious" operation did not immediately disclose the two had any link. Two Republicans investigating the scandal, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) say there's evidence that officials at ATF and the US Attorney's office sought to hide the connection.

In a letter, Grassley and Issa say the lead prosecutor on Fast and Furious, Assistant US Attorney Emory Hurley, learned almost immediately that guns allowed onto the street in his case, had been recovered at Terry's murder. "(I)n the hours after Agent Terry's death," says the letter from Grassley and Issa, Hurley apparently "contemplated the connection between the two cases and sought to prevent the connection from being disclosed." The Justice Department recently transferred Hurley out of the criminal division into the civil division.

An internal ATF email dated the day after Terry's death reveals the quick decision to not disclose the source of the weapons found at the murder scene: "... this way we do not divulge our current case (Fast and Furious) or the Border Patrol shooting case."

Another ATF email indicates that the justification both offices used to not charge the suspect with crimes related to the murder scene "was to not 'complicate' the FBI's investigation."

ATF whistleblowers revealed the link between the two cases to Congressional investigators and CBS News, saying their supervisors were attempting to cover it up.

Today's letter from the Congressional Republicans also criticizes Hurley's boss, US Attorney Dennis Burke. It says Burke denied a connection between Fast and Furious and Terry's murder in court, but recently "readily admitted the connection" in an interview with Congressional investigators. Burke resigned from his job on Tuesday.

The Justice Department had no immediate comment. Burke and Hurley were not immediately reachable for comment.

I recall LTC North discussing his advice-seeking of Bill Casey RE tradecraft in setting up the arms/money/movement operation. Mr. Casey began to expound while LTC North pulled out pen & notebook. Casey exclaimed,

"Put that away, you idiot! You don't write this kind of stuff down!"

Don't ya just love record-keepers?
;)

Sounds to me like Accessory to murder charges should be filed... This is WAY beyond a botched "investigation". Clear evidence they tried to hide their conduct... They knew they were responsible for Agent Terry's death. Indirectly, but still responsible. Were is one of us, we'd be in the gray bar motel.

Criminal charges should be filed and a special prosecutor should be appointed - that is why I have been on this like white on rice - never forget - (at least) one of ours has died because of direct bureaucratic incompetence - lord knows how many Mexican nationals have died (will die) because of this.

All the while, Holder farts in our oolong and calls it bubble tea.

I predict that jack shit is going to happen. I keep hoping that something will but as the time goes by it seems to be all but forgotten. I was really hoping that the hearings being held by Issa and Grassely would put the nail in the coffin.

Before it all gets swept under the rug, they will throw a few more folks under the bus....but I highly doubt anyone of any significance will receive the justice they deserve.

Holder didn't know? BS!
 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...t-and-furious/

Considering the size and scope of "Gunrunner"; the costs involved with manpower, logistics and the fact that established laws were intentionally ignored; there is no way in hell you are ever going to convince me that approval was not sought from higher than a district office. Any lower level supervisor would have had to ensure this operation would have been reviewed by not only his superiors, but probably by several department attorneys.

These people couldn't tell the truth if their asses were on fire!