US Justice Department: Diciplinary Action, No Criminal Sanctions in Fast and Furious Probe CNN
go to original September 19, 2012

A long-awaited report on the U.S. government’s controversial gun-trafficking operation known as “Fast and Furious” released Wednesday found no evidence that Attorney General Eric Holder knew of the botched effort to trace the flow of guns to Mexico’s drug cartels prior to its public unraveling in January 2011. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

The U.S. Justice Department's inspector general found 14 employees of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responsible for management failures in the botched Fast and Furious gun-trafficking operation, according to a report released Wednesday.

The inspector general's report referred the 14 for possible disciplinary action, but did not recommend criminal sanctions.

The report found that Attorney General Eric Holder was not informed of the controversial ATF operation until 2011, after the death of a Border Patrol agent ratcheted up the political ramifications of the program.

The botched investigation was designed to expose the illicit networks responsible for illegal gunrunning to Mexico. The ATF launched the Fast and Furious program in Arizona to track weapons purchases, but lost track of nearly 2,000 firearms, two of which turned up in the 2010 killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

Since then, a contentious political drama has unfolded in the wake of the program, including a contempt lawsuit against Attorney General Eric Holder.

Republicans have used the issue to attack Holder and the Obama Justice Department.

The report by the department's office of the inspector general was highly anticipated by both the Obama administration and its critics, and could figure into November's presidential election.

Holder has said he was awaiting the report to determine what actions to take against individuals involved in the case. Up to now, Holder has promised Congress that such "gun walking" of weapons into Mexico would never again be allowed.

Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer acknowledged last November he had learned that guns were allowed to "walk" to Mexico, and apologized for not informing other senior Justice Department officials. A letter from the Justice Department to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, which had said no guns were allowed to walk, was later retracted by Justice officials.

A standoff over internal Justice documents erupted after the Obama administration said it was asserting executive privilege in the Fast and Furious case to shield documents that include internal deliberations traditionally protected from outside eyes.

That prompted the House to vote a civil contempt charge against Holder. The vote along party lines was followed by the House taking the contempt issue to court, where it is expected to linger until well after the presidential election.

It marked the first time in U.S. history that the head of the Justice Department has been held in contempt by Congress.

Democrats protested the vote vehemently as being purely political.

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