Six months ago, several agents with the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stood before
Congress to testify about the details of a U.S. government program that
armed Mexico's largest drug cartel with thousands of assault rifles.
The administration denied it at the time and
questioned the agents' integrity. The men were nervous and scared. They
said they feared for their careers, their reputation and their
families.
"Any attempt to retaliate against them for
their testimony today would be unfair, unwise and unlawful," Sen.
Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, warned the Department of Justice.
He and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., began an
investigation to determine who authorized "Operation Fast and Furious"
and aimed to hold accountable those responsible for a plan that helped
known criminals run guns across the border in violation of U.S. and
international law.
And while President Obama has said the
operation was a mistake and that "people who screwed up will be held
accountable," the record so far does not bear that out. Those in charge
of the botched operation have been reassigned or promoted, their
pensions intact. But many of those who blew the whistle face isolation,
retaliation and transfer.
Here's what has happened to the managers of the operation:
-- Acting ATF Chief Ken Melson, who oversaw
the operation, is now an adviser in the Office of Legal Affairs. He
remains in ATF's Washington, D.C., headquarters.
-- Acting Deputy Director Billy Hoover, who
knew his agency was walking guns and demanded an "exit strategy" just
five months into the program, is now the special agent in charge of the
D.C. office. He, too, did not have to relocate.
-- Deputy Director for Field Operations
William McMahon received detailed briefings about the illegal operation
and later admitted he shares "responsibility for mistakes that were
made.” Yet, he also stays in D.C., ironically as the No. 2 man at the
ATF's Office of Internal Affairs.
-- Special Agent in Charge of Phoenix Bill
Newell, the man most responsible for directly overseeing Fast and
Furious, was promoted to the Office of Management in Washington.
-- Phoenix Deputy Chief George Gillette was also promoted to Washington as ATF's liaison to the U.S. Marshal's Service.
-- Group Supervisor David Voth managed Fast
and Furious on a day-to-day basis and repeatedly stopped field agents
from interdicting weapons headed to the border, according to
congressional testimony. ATF boosted Voth to chief of the ATF Tobacco
Division, where he now supervises more employees in Washington than he
ever did in Phoenix.
An ATF spokesman in Washington says the key players did not receive promotions, but transfers.
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