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Chairman Issa on Resignation of Lanny Breuer

Lanny Breuer/AG Holder

WASHINGTON – Today, Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa released the following statement on news of the impending resignation of Justice Department’s Criminal Division head, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer: 

“Lanny Breuer’s resignation is long overdue,” Chairman Issa said. “Breuer was at the heart of several critical failures in Operation Fast and Furious:  he knew about reckless tactics, failed to take seriously allegations that they were continuing, and only owned up to his failures once they were publicly exposed.

“The Inspector General’s report admonished Breuer for failing to inform the Deputy Attorney General or the Attorney General when he learned, in April 2010, that the reckless tactic of gunwalking was used in a prior operation.  Furthermore, several of Breuer’s top deputies authorized sensitive wiretap applications under Breuer’s authority that, according to the OIG report, contained stark, incontrovertible evidence of the exact same gunwalking tactic.  Had Breuer taken any action whatsoever, Fast and Furious would have ended eight months sooner than it did. This resignation paves the way for needed new leadership in the Criminal Division.”

With Breuer’s resignation, the three highest ranking DOJ officials whom the DOJ Inspector General criticized in his September 2012 report on Operation Fast and Furious – former Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein, and Breuer – have now left the Department in the wake of the report’s release.

Related Documents

Report: Fast and Furious: The Anatomy of a Failed Operation

Rep. Issa Calls President’s Nomination for ATF Director a “Slap in the Face”

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa

By Allan Lengel

ticklethewire.com

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif) said Friday that President Barack Obama’s nomination of B. Todd Jones to permanent director of ATF is a slap in the face.

“Acting Director Jones was at the helm of ATF as many troubling problems from the fallout of Operation Fast and Furious festered,” Issa, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a statement. “His specific decisions on a number of Fast and Furious related issues raise concerns about his judgment and ability to lead the agency. While I continue to believe that ATF needs to have a Senate confirmed Director, President Obama has a responsibility to find a nominee who can win confirmation and is not saddled by a string of bad decisions related to the agency’s greatest recent failure.”

“Jones was first brought into the job of ATF Acting Director in the middle of the Fast and Furious scandal after Justice Department officials had falsely denied reckless conduct and allegations by his predecessor that there was an effort underway to shield the Department’s senior political appointees from the scandal. Because of the numerous ATF mistakes during his tenure as Acting Director pertaining to Fast and Furious, his nomination is a slap in the face to the family of fallen Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, Mexican citizens whose murder has been linked to Fast and Furious weapons, and ATF whistleblowers whom he failed to support.”

Jones has been acting director since 2011.

Issa, in a press release wrote that his specific concerns included:

•  · Failure to hold all the ATF personnel responsible for Operation Fast and Furious accountable – Nearly two years have gone by since the congressional investigation began. Still, several key individuals identified by both Congress and the Inspector General as having played prominent roles in using reckless tactics remain with the agency.
• 
  
•  Failure to support Fast and Furious whistleblowers – The Congressional investigation, the independent Department of Justice Inspector General, and an internal ATF review during Jones’ tenure exonerated the Fast and Furious whistleblowers. Yet, Jones has never commended or publicly defended these agents who brought the wrongdoing in Operation Fast and Furious to light. These whistleblowers faced retaliation from both inside and outside the Department of Justice, but Jones has steadfastly declined to recognize their heroic efforts to stop ATF gunwalking.
•  Perceived hostility to ATF whistleblowers – In a video sent agency wide, Jones instructed ATF employees not to complain about problems outside their chain of command. ATF released the video as Fast and Furious remained prominently in the news. Agents within ATF were concerned enough to contact Congress about what they perceived to be a veiled threat and indirect criticism of Fast and Furious whistleblowers who spoke to Congress and reporters about gunwalking after complaints to ATF officials had fallen on deaf ears.
•  Affording special treatment to ATF supervisor cited for negligence in Fast and Furious – In a particularly outrageous series of events, one of the key players in Operation Fast and Furious accepted a lucrative job at J. P. Morgan while still on ATF’s payroll. While the agency had no obligation to do so, the supervisor was given a special waiver under Jones’ tenure as Acting Director to remain employed by ATF while he simultaneously worked for J.P. Morgan. This was apparently done so that the agent could gain seniority for his government pension.
•  · An unwillingness to engage Congress – Jones has refused to discuss his actions and problems within his agency related to Operation Fast and Furious with congressional investigators. This position stands in stark contrast to his predecessor, former Acting ATF Director Ken Melson, who proactively sought an opportunity to tell investigators his understanding of what had gone wrong in Operation Fast and Furious and with the Justice Department’s flawed response to whistleblower allegations.
•  Failure to apply lessons ATF has learned from Fast and Furious – Jones has, to date, exhibited a general failure to articulate to Congress, ATF agents, and the public his understanding of what went wrong, who is responsible, and what ATF needs to do in the future to be successful in its mission of enforcing firearms laws. He has not offered plans for reforming or restructuring the failed supervisory framework that allowed reckless tactics to continue for over a year and contributed to the death of a Border Patrol agent and numerous Mexican citizens.

Ticklethewire.com

Issa Praises Inclusion of ‘Fast and Furious’ Provisions in 113th Congress Rules Package

December 28, 2012

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa today praised the inclusion of special provisions in the proposed 113th Congress rules package that will keep in place legal obligations on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and others at the Justice Department as a result of lawful subpoenas issued in the 112th Congress.  The inclusion of these provisions in the House rules will allow the civil suit, authorized by a bipartisan vote of the House in July 2012, which seeks federal courts to compel the production of relevant subpoenaed documents to continue.  Without these provisions, the Justice Department could have argued that its obligation to produce subpoenaed documents expired with the previous Congress.

“These provisions in the 113th Congress rules package ensure that the civil suit authorized by the House of Representatives with the support of twenty-one Democratic representatives will move forward,” said Issa.  “The Justice Department has still not met its legal obligations to turn over documents showing why it waited ten months to formally retract false denials of reckless tactics in Operation Fast and Furious and why it failed to appropriately respond to whistleblower allegations.  The new Congress will be steadfast in its commitment to getting the full truth about this reckless gunwalking effort that has been linked to murders on both sides of our border with Mexico.”

In February 2011, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform commenced an investigation into a Department of Justice law enforcement operation known as Fast and Furious.  In Fast and Furious, which was operational between approximately November 2009 and January 2011, the Department of Justice knowingly allowed firearms to be purchased illegally in the United States and then transported into Mexico for the purpose of trying to establish a nexus between leaders of Mexican crime syndicates and the individuals who purchased the firearms.  In October 2011, Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa authorized and issued a subpoena which directed the Attorney General to produce documents relevant to the conduct of the operation and the response by the Department.

In December 2011, senior Department officials formally admitted that they had provided inaccurate information to Congress ten months earlier.  However, the Attorney General continued to treat the subpoena that had been served on him with the same disregard with which the Department had treated the Committee’s investigation from the outset.  Among other materials, this subpoena sought documents that would seemingly explain what top officials knew and why the Justice Department had delayed acknowledgement of reckless tactics that it had denied to Congress.  Nearly ten months after the return date for the Holder Subpoena (when the House filed suit), the Attorney General had produced approximately 4,000 pages of responsive documents.  In contrast, the Department’s Office of Inspector General has had access to more than 80,000 documents.  Of particular importance here, the Attorney General has refused to produce virtually all documents responsive to the Holder Subpoena dated or created after February 4, 2011.  This impaired Congress’ efforts to determine when the Department became aware of reckless tactics and how it responded after it had issued false denials.

Before the House of Representatives undertook a bipartisan decision to hold Attorney General Holder in contempt and authorize a civil suit, the House made multiple attempts to reach an amicable agreement.  This included multiple and unilateral efforts by the Oversight Committee to narrow the scope of documents it sought to help facilitate a potential settlement.  The Department, however, remained steadfast in its refusal to accept these proposals and would not engage in a dialogue about specific documents it was withholding and its specific reasons for doing so.  The House remains open to settling this matter outside of federal court if the Justice Department drops its objections to providing the materials at issue. 

The proposed language for the 113th Congress House rules package related to Operation Fast and Furious:

CONTINUING AUTHORITIES FOR THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM AND THE OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL.—

(A) The House authorizes—

(i) the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the 113th Congress to act as the successor in interest to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the 112th Congress with respect to the civil action Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, United States House of Representatives v. Eric H. Holder, Jr., in his official capacity as Attorney General of the United States, filed by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the 112th Congress pursuant to House Resolution 706; and

(ii) the chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (when elected), on behalf of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Office of General Counsel to take such steps as may be appropriate to ensure continuation of such civil action, including amending the complaint as circumstances may warrant.

(B) The House authorizes the chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (when elected), on behalf of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and until such committee has adopted rules pursuant to clause 2(a) of rule XI, to issue subpoenas related to the investigation into the United States Department of Justice operation known as ‘‘Fast and Furious’’ and related matters.

(C) The House authorizes the chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (when elected), on behalf of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Office of General Counsel to petition to join as a party to the civil action referenced in paragraph (1), any individual subpoenaed by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the 112th Congress as part of its investigation into the United States Department of Justice operation known as ‘‘Fast and Furious’’ and related matters, or any successor to such individual, who failed to comply with such subpoena or, at the authorization of the Speaker after consultation with the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, to initiate judicial proceedings concerning the enforcement of subpoenas issued to such individuals.

(D) The House authorizes the chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (when elected), on behalf of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Office of General Counsel—

(i) to petition to join as a party to the civil action referenced in paragraph (1) any individual subpoenaed by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the 112th Congress as part of its investigation into the United States Department of Justice operation known as ‘‘Fast and Furious’’ and related matters who failed to comply with such subpoena, or any successor to such individual; and

(ii) at the authorization of the Speaker after consultation with the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, to initiate judicial proceedings concerning the enforcement of subpoenas issued to such individuals.

Brian Terry's cousin speaks out on eve of straw buyer's sentencing

By Steve Krafft, FOX 10 News





PHOENIX -
Loved ones of a slain Border Patrol agent are speaking out. It's been almost two years since elite Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was gunned down.

His murder was linked to the Fast and Furious gun-walking fiasco.

The feds allowed straw buyers to funnel guns to Mexico in hopes of tracing them to drug cartels, but lost track along the way.

Wednesday, Jaime Avila will be sentenced in federal court. Prosecutors say he bought a gun linked to the killing of Agent Terry.

Brian Terry should have been preparing to head home to Michigan for a family Christmas this year.

Instead, his family is here to honor his memory as a casualty of the botched Fast and Furious gun-walking program.

They will be in federal court Friday, asking a judge to sentence Jaime Avila, one of 20 straw buyers, to a long prison term.

"Brian is my cousin, we grew up together in suburbs of Detroit, we both served in the Marine Corps," says Robert Heyer, Terry's cousin.

Robert remembers when Brian was little.

"Well Brian was the kid with never-ending energy, could not sit still, always had a smile, always had a twinkle in his eye. It continued as an adult."

Robert says Brian chose to join the good guys as a Border Patrol agent.

And the straw buyers who bought weapons destined for Mexican drug gangs -- they made their choice too.

"They chose to take the shopping list of deadly weapons, .50 sniper rifles, Ak-47s, M-16s and go shopping for the drug cartels."

Those straw buyers got bags full of cash, Robert Heyer says. Now he wants them to get long prison terms.

"These men had the choice not to walk in and buy these weapons but they chose to. They were greedy. They benefited from it and now they are being held accountable in a court of law."

The family of Agent Terry has created a website in his memory -- honorbrianterry.com.

They want the Fast and Furious investigation to continue.

Straw buyer Jaime Avila, who bought a weapon linked to Agent Terry's death, could receive nearly 10 years when he is sentenced.

Report on Fast & Furious Finds Widespread Justice Department Management Failures

WASHINGTON – Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, todayreleased the second installment of their final report on Operation Fast and Furious. This report chronicles the U.S. Department of Justice’s management failures, specifically finding fault with five senior Justice Department officials for failing to identify red flags indicating reckless tactics.

“The report discloses widespread management failures within the hierarchy of the Justice Department,” said Issa.  “The Justice Department has yet to evaluate these management issues and implement structural changes to prevent another disaster like Operation Fast and Furious from occurring. Furthermore, the Justice Department has taken limited action against these negligent managers.”

“Officials in the Justice Department saw any number of warnings and some even had the gunwalking information right in front of them, yet nothing was done to stop it.  Countless people may be murdered with these weapons, yet the Attorney General appears to be letting his employees slide by with little to no accountability.  The Attorney General needs to make changes to ensure that department leadership provides oversight of the agencies they are tasked with supervising,  instead of pointing fingers at somebody else,” Grassley said.

Operation Fast and Furious contributed to the deaths of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and an unknown number of Mexican citizens.  It also created an ongoing public safety hazard on both sides of the border.  The failures happened because of conscious decisions to encourage gun dealers to sell to known traffickers and avoid interdicting those weapons or even questioning suspects, all in the hope that would lead law enforcement to cartel connections and a larger case.

The report can be found here and exhibits here.

The first installment of the final report focusing on ATF failures can be found here.

Report Highlights

• A detailed account of the interview with former ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson.
• The Obama Administration’s new focus on trafficking and targeting of drug cartels, which led to the strategy behind Operation Fast and Furious.
• Testimony from senior Justice Department officials about Operation Fast and Furious and the management problems it entailed. The report finds fault with five senior DOJ Officials for failing to supervise and for missing basic red flags.  Those officials are Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein and Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed Siskel. Attorney General Holder’s Deputy Chief of Staff Robert “Monty” Wilkinson also bears some responsibility for the poor management that lead to Operation Fast and Furious.
• Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler, Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed Siskel, and other officials from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General attended a detailed briefing on Operation Fast and Furious in March 2010.  Despite the evidence presented at the briefing of illegally-purchased firearms being recovered in Mexico and in the U.S., Grindler and Siskel failed to ask probing questions or take any significant follow-up action to monitor and supervise the conduct of the case.
• ATF officials asked both the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and ODAG for assistance in speeding up the indictments in Fast and Furious.  The Justice Department, however, took no action to intervene.  Instead, officials at Department headquarters only showed concern about preparing for the press impact of the indictments.
• Deputy Chief of Staff to the Attorney General Monty Wilkinson discussed Attorney General Holder participating in the press conference announcing the take-down of Operation Fast and Furious prior to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
• Both Monty Wilkinson and Gary Grindler were informed about the connection between Operation Fast and Furious and U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder.  Grindler received detailed information about the connection.  He took no additional action, however, to properly supervise the operation.
• No one at Justice Department headquarters have provided complete and accurate answers to the Terry family.  During their respective transcribed interviews, Monty Wilkinson stated 38 times that he “did not recall” or “did not know.”  In a similar fashion, Gary Grindler did so 29 times, and Ed Siskel 21 times.  In two different transcribed interviews, Dennis Burke said he “did not recall” or “did not know” a combined total of 161 times.
• Recommendations for future management of DOJ.

Related Documents

10-29-12 Issa-Grassley Fast & Furious Final Report Part 210-29-12 Exhibits for Fast & Furious Final Report Part 27-31-12 Issa-Grassley Fast & Furious Final Report Part 1

Border Patrol Agent Killed in Arizona Shooting

DHS officials report one agent dead, another wounded near Bisbee

JACQUES BILLEAUD, Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — A U.S. Border Patrol agent was killed and another wounded in a shooting early Tuesday near the U.S.-Mexico line in Arizona, according to the Border Patrol.

The agents were shot while patrolling on horseback in Naco, Arizona, shortly after midnight Tuesday, the Border Patrol said in a statement.

A third agent was not harmed, according to George McCubbin, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing about 17,000 agents.

The wounded agent was airlifted to a hospital after being shot in the ankle and buttocks, the Border Patrol said. He was in surgery and was expected to recover, McCubbin said.

The shooting occurred after an alarm was triggered on one of the many sensors along the border and the three agents went to investigate, said Cochise County Sheriff's spokeswoman Carol Capas.

Authorities have not identified any suspects, Capas said.

She said is not known whether the agents returned fire.

Authorities did not identify the agents, who were assigned to the Naco station.

The last U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally shot on duty was Brian Terry, who was killed in a shootout with Mexican bandits near the border in December 2010. The shooting was later linked to the U.S. government's Fast and Furious operation against gun smuggling.

The border patrol station in Naco was recently named after Terry.

The FBI and Cochise County Sheriff's Office, which were investigating the shooting, did not immediately return calls.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.