"ATF Let Hundreds of U.S. Weapons Fall into Hands of Suspected Mexican Gunrunners."

Here is an excerpt from John Solomon, David Heath, and Gordon Witkin's piece for The Center for Public Integrity:

"Hoping to score a major prosecution of Mexican drug lords, federal prosecutors and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives permitted hundreds of guns to be purchased and retained by suspected straw buyers with the expectation they might cross the border and even be used in crimes while the case was being built, according to documents and interviews. The decision — part of a Phoenix-based operation code named “Fast and Furious” — was met by strong objections from some front-line agents who feared they were allowing weapons like AK-47s to “walk” into the hands of drug lords and gun runners, internal agency memos show. Indeed, scores of the weapons came back quickly traced to criminal activity... One of those front-line agents who objected, John Dodson, told the Center he and several of his colleagues wanted to intercept some of the weapons but their objections were repeatedly overruled by ATF supervisors. The supervisors instructed them to simply record the straw purchases in a database, flag them as 'suspect,' and monitor the suspected gun runners until evidence piled up about their connections to Mexican drug lords... Mark Chait, ATF’s assistant director in charge of field operations, told the Center he personally decided to change the strategy in September 2010 after years of futile efforts to interdict guns from small-time straw buyers with little hope of dismantling major drug trafficking organizations in Mexico. The agency’s earlier focus on straw buyers was criticized last fall in a review by the Justice Department’s inspector general of ATF’s border effort, known as Project Gunrunner... In addition, ATF officials have so far been frustrated in efforts to persuade the White House to implement even a simple change in firearm sales reporting requirements to help detect possible gun-running at the border." Link to Full Article

Analysis: There is a lot of information coming out about this scandal these days, and some are saying "Project Gunwalker" may end up being as big - if not bigger - than the Iran/Contra Affair. The article above is really long, and there are other stories I want to include snippets of before I offer my take. First, ATF Agent Dodson, who's mentioned in the story above, was interviewed by CBS News, and made some incendiary comments:

"Agent Dodson and other sources say the gun walking strategy was approved all the way up to the Justice Department. The idea was to see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret from Mexico... Senior agents including Dodson told CBS News they confronted their supervisors over and over... According to Dodson, 'They said, "Did you hear about the border patrol agent?" And I said, "Yeah." And they said "Well it was one of the Fast and Furious guns." There's not really much you can say after that.' Two assault rifles ATF had let go nearly a year before were found at Terry's murder." Link to CBS News story

As a result of this mess, the acting head of the ATF has ordered a review of the agency's efforts to combat southbound weapons trafficking:

"The statement, issued by ATF’s acting director, Kenneth E. Melson, said the agency 'will ask a multi-disciplinary panel of law enforcement professionals to review the bureau’s current firearms trafficking strategies employed by field division managers and special agents.' The statement said the review 'will enable ATF to maximize its effectiveness when undertaking complex firearms trafficking investigations and prosecutions. It will support the goals of ATF to stem the illegal flow of firearms to Mexico and combat firearms trafficking in the United States.'" Link to CPI blog post

First, let's start with the operation itself. This was (it appears) a standard sting operation. For those of you not entirely familiar with what that is, it's a law enforcement technique where the seller of some type of (usually illegal) item is either an officer or a civilian working in conjunction with the police. For example, a gas station clerk may be working with the police and selling cigarettes to minors who he knows are using fake IDs. Or an officer might work undercover as a drug dealer and sell illegal drugs to individuals repeatedly in order to help build up a case. In this instance, gun sellers were selling firearms to suspected straw buyers with ATF's knowledge under the guise that the ATF could track them and build a case against one or several Mexican DTOs. As you can now see, that didn't work out so well.

I asked a question on Twitter to my followers not long ago, "What's the difference between letting guns 'walk' in a sting operation and letting 'drugs' walk? Both kill." The best response I got was that the buyers and ultimate users of the drugs make a choice to use them, so they're responsible for any negative consequences that arise from that transaction. Likewise, a 16 year-old who uses a fake ID to buy cigarettes is ultimately responsible for any legal action brought against him, as well as any health problems that arise from smoking. The people who fall victim to the business end of firearms that are allowed to 'walk,' however, don't have that choice. Just ask USBP Agent Terry's family.

While in retrospect, most of us can agree that the ATF's decision to work a sting operation this was was a bad idea, I can understand why they chose to go that route. The ATF has been getting hammered by both the NRA and the Government Accountability Office for wasting too much time going after the "little guy" and individual straw buyers, and not putting forth enough effort to go after the whale. I imagine this was the ATF's attempt to trace those guns back to the ultimate purchaser - one of the major DTOs.

The problem is that the routes these guns follow once they cross into Mexico are quick, varied, and complex. They get stashed in warehouses, where they're later divided up and distributed to different people who may either be working directly for a DTO, or be subcontracted out as ad-hoc hitmen. This is all managed by mid-level people or lower, so the kingpins never see or handle the day-to-day operations of weapons movements in Mexico. Trying to nail a major DTO with a series of sting operations may have been laced with the best of intentions, but it was a pipe dream at best.

So what's next for the ATF? I don't know if anyone has a good answer for that. The agency bears the brunt of the mission to deter southbound weapons trafficking, and its main strategy in the last couple of years has been a scandalous bust. I have a feeling that no matter what revamped strategy they come up with, it will be overshadowed for some time with reports of guns turning up at crime scenes that are traced back to "Operation Gunwalker."

Comments

[Ike]

Silvia:

I posted this for an earlier topic, but think it's highly appropriate again.

It seems to me that allowing the sale and tracking of contraband tobacco and alcohol may be a good law enforcement technique, but allowing and facilitating the sale of contraband firearms and explosives (or atomic weapons....) is a bad idea - with deadly consequences.

[P]

OK - management of the ATF is not stupid, right? [Not everybody here may agree on that premise :-) ]. So what were they trying to achieve? It looks like they were trying to assemble evidence for a major sting operation. In order to do that - they need convincing proof that large numbers of these weapons are reaching the cartels in Mexico. Otherwise, what have they got when they take these "straw buyers" of guns to court? Nothing conclusive.

My point is this. Numerous readers on this blog have objected vehemently to the idea of the US Gov't (ATF) creating a detailed computerized system that tracks the ownership of all guns in the USA. OK, so we agree that we want freedom from that. Then what's the alternative? The ATF has to be able to run major sting operations and make them work. Isn't that what we're seeing here?

You can't have it two ways, folks.

P.

[Ike]

ATF already has a detailed computerized system that tracks ownership of guns in the USA. Not a complete registration system, but one that tracks all new guns to the first buyer. For details, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETrace

[Fred Hiker]

Not at all P. As attested to by it’s own agents the ‘’sting’’ as you refer to the operation, was less about compiling legitimate evidence, and more inline with that of rigging a crime scene or case. Clearly, and as again attested to by agents who were actually involved in the operation, ATF’s intent was to allow the introduction of a larger number of firearms into Mexico than what would have normally been the case, simply to inflate the statistics of such guns being crossed into Mexico. The only people ‘’stung ‘’ by this gun deal gone south are the murdered victims and their families, as a result of ATF’s allowed introduction of them.

Fred

[P]

Fred ... appreciate your comment. If what you are saying is indeed true - that is a serious allegation. I hope it gets investigated.

But how exactly does the ATF benefit ... if the news gets out that lots of guns are flowing into Mexico? Couldn't the public interpret that fact to mean that ATF is actually failing in its job? Is the logic here that ATF would get a boost in funding - to deal with the "growing problem" of guns going into Mexico. I sure hope that's not what is going on.

P.

[Fred Hiker]

P- I certainly don’t have all the answers concerning this thing, but if the ATF field agents are to be believed, that is exactly what ATF management had in mind. This whole discussing affair has been a big disappointment for me, and I doubt if we have even heard the worst of it yet. Back at the time when the first agent was killed, the Border Patrolman in AZ., much of the media were concerned because they couldn’t seem to get any information about the event. I mean no information from the FBI, Border Patrol, ICE, ATF nor the DOJ. Weeks went by and nobody was being charged nor arrested for the crime. Then these ATF field agents started talking, and it didn’t take much thinking to understand why the news blackout had been put in place. Cover-up, plain and simple. Here however is where some are missing what actually did or is taking place: For all of these federal agencies to come together under one umbrella to effect such a media blackout, the umbrella has to be much bigger than the ATF, or even the DOJ. In other words the ‘’managers’’ at ATF didn’t hatch this gun running scheme all on their own. Nope this gig was/is covered from very close to the top, if not the top.
Clearly with the CBS folks picking up on the story at the very least a couple of folks are going to get thrown under the bus. If the media stays focused we could see as many bus hits as we did during Nixon’s attempt to stay in office.

Fred

[Harley]

This is about a 2008 case the considered "first major confrontation" or the genesis of the Mexican drug war(US encouraged and apparently supported)
John Thomas Shipley-ex-FBI agent-51 firearms purchase sold to cartels, a Barrett involved in 1 Mexican Army officer killed= 2 years sentence
http://www.ticklethewire.com/tag/john-thomas-shipley/

There have been lots of these cases since ever and seems no one has been doing something or listening at least, because they happened in Mexico not in US land or against US agents or civilians.

[Bill]

Harley,
How about the Mexican government "contract" with los Estados Unidos and cooperate in an intelligence gathering effort to locate Guzman and send in a few covert Navy Seal and Marine Force Recon teams to take him out alomg with his top boys. If it works we cooperate again and do the same with the Zetas.
All under the radar mind you. Weaken the network and then rebuild the internal and border security of both our countries. Both countries have enough at stake to put aside the long held fears of "colonialism" long enough to get this under control.

[MF]

As interested as the ATF (Alcohol? seriously?) might be about how an M-16 or an AK-47 gets from "Texas gunstore to Michoacan state", for example, this fact remains: this caliber of customer does not have economic or logistical constraints in their buying decision process. None. I don't doubt that the DTOs in Mexico have a proverbial bazaar of wonderful options available to them at discounted prices in states like Texas, etc. But I think what's being underestimated here is the fact that these DTOs have ridiculous amounts of cash. I mean they are rolling in it, and as such can buy guns in any amount and any flavor from just about any vendor anywhere in the world, including China, etc. These guys can buy helicopters with machine guns on them as well as tanks and SAMs.

Meanwhile in Texas the ATF thinks they're finally on to something called "trafficking of guns to Mexico". To that discover the only response is this: "No shit Sherlocks!"

[Harley]

Bill
I just keep reading the same premises of you:
1- Mexico supposed and prejudiced fear of "colonialism" and
2- The only solution for you is some US military intervention.

About the first I thought I have answered that before.

About your suggested military intervention as the only solution you have been proposing these days, you know there must some US agents infiltrated at some level right now, that is no big news for me.
With all of US "intelligence" machinery working on Mexico as the 1st national security threat right now, with so many various opinions like the under-secretary Westphal on one side and secretary Napolitano on the other side, I just realized your politics don't have a clue about was going on for real, neither here in my country nor in your own side of the border.
The obsession of a U.S. military intervention in Mexico is so stale.
Weaken the cartels is a must for both countries,sending your troops to catch the guy is not the magical solution, cartels are like the ancient greek Hydra.