CNN 2012-08-04

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We begin tonight "Keeping Them Honest" with the people who are supposed to be keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the ATF. 

 

 

 

Well, tonight, we're getting our first look at a report that says several people from top to bottom at ATF failed to do their jobs in connection with the operation called "Fast and Furious." That's the bottom line of a report by House and Senate Republicans and it contains new allegations as well that we're going to talk about. 

 

 

 

We've obtained a copy of it. The bottom line, and I quote, "From the outset, the case was marred¹ by missteps, poor judgments² and an inherently reckless strategy." That strategy, a new one, according to the report, was to go beyond simply seizing firearms purchased from Mexican drug cartels by so-called straw buyers throughout the southwest. Instead, says the report, "Fast and Furious" was part of a plan to let those buyers and the guns walk in hopes of identifying and busting³

 

entire gun running networks. 

 

 

 

Instead, "Fast and Furious" guns began turning up at crime scenes in Mexico and here at home, including the killing⁴ of U.S. Border Agent Brian Terry in 2010 right before Christmas. According to the report, Agent Terry's death came at the end of a long chain of mistakes starting at gun shops. Quoting now from the report, "The gun dealers⁵ were reassured⁶ that ATF was closely monitoring the transactions and interdicting⁷

 

the weapons. That was false." 

 

 

 

The report focuses sharply on this man. William Newell, former special agent in charge of the ATF's field office in Phoenix⁸. Republican investigators⁹ concluding that Agent Newell authorized¹⁰, encouraged and endorsed¹¹ "Fast and Furious," and let it continue long after ATF had the goods on these straw buyers.

 

 

 

Quoting again from their report, Bill Newell had the ability and the duty to end operation "Fast and Furious" much sooner than it did. Instead, the report states, it ended as a reaction to a foreseeable tragedy. 

 

 

 

The report alleges¹² that Agent Newell, despite prior warnings during the Bush administration about pushing the envelope, reverted¹³ in the words of the report, quote, "To the use of risky¹⁴ gun walking tactics." His boss, William McMahon, also comes in for congressional criticism. The report stating, "In McMahon's view, it was not his job to ask any questions about what was going on in the field." His supervisor¹⁵, Mark Shade, is slammed for playing, quote, "a surprisingly passive role," end quote. And failing to provide oversight¹⁶. And his boss, Deputy ATF director William Hoover, is accused of dereliction of duty in the report because he ordered the "Fast and Furious" to be shut down but did not follow through. 

 

 

 

Finally, the report blames then acting¹⁷ ATF director Kenneth Milfin for staying above the fray¹⁸ instead of ending "Fast and Furious" sooner. 

 

 

 

Brian Terry's family certainly wishes he would have. I spoke¹⁹ recently with his cousin, Robert Heyer. 

 

 

 

This is about right and wrong. Operation "Fast and Furious", everybody concerns, was a flawed operation in concept and execution. It was wrong. It was a huge public safety concern and it remains²⁰ a huge public safety concern. And just as Josephine said, our worst fear is to open up the paper or to read a news story where another Border Patrol agent has been killed or injured with an operation "Fast and Furious" weapon.

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