"Project Gunwalker," the growing scandal in which the Burea of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) deliberately allowed thousands of firearms to be "walked" across the U.S./Mexican border by known gun traffickers, was almost certainly primarily the work of the Department of Justice. The DoJ is the parent department of the BATFE, and DoJ's fingerprints are all over this travesty. Still, this is too big for even the DoJ to have done completely on its own. Sipsey Street Irregular Mike Vanderboegh has been digging deeply into what looks like an administration-wide operation to create the mythical "iron river" of guns from the U.S. commercial market going to Mexico, to match the narrative we've been fed for the last two years.
One agency that would have to be brought into such an operation on some level is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as parent agency of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (which is in turn the Border Patrol's parent agency), etc. Indeed, we have already talked about some of DHS's involvement. From a March 21 CBS News story:
But ATF wasn't working alone on the case known as "Fast and Furious." Documents show ATF had conference calls with "DHS" (Homeland Security). "USMS" (U.S. Marshals) and DEA. An "ICE," or Customs agent, was on ATF's Fast and Furious team. They were advised by an "AUSA," or Assistant U.S. Attorney under the Justice Department.
With an ICE agent actually on the "Fast and Furious" team, and DHS in on the conference calls, that agency can hardly claim not to have been involved with the operation to help get guns to known killers who operate across our border--"secuirng the homeland," indeed.
And now CBS has more bad news for DHS officials hoping not to get caught in this scandal:
Sources and documents indicate the prosecutor who advised the "Fast and Furious" case in Phoenix was Asst. U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley. His boss, Arizona's US Attorney Dennis Burke, was a longtime chief of staff for Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano when she served as Arizona governor. In brief questioning from Congress in March, Napolitano said it was "premature" to comment on details of the Fast and Furious controversies. She also said she was "not aware" that an agent under Homeland Security was on the ATF Fast and Furious task force in Phoenix. Speaking of herself in the third person, Napolitano stated that "no concerns were expressed to the Secretary."
Hmm . . . Secretary Napolitiano is not a very "hands-on" Secretary of Homeland Security, if she actually was that "unaware." Sipsey Street Irregular Mike Vanderboegh and Seattle Gun Rights Examiner Dave Workman have much more about this latest development, which actually has more to do with the fact that CBS has learned that Congressional investigators are in Arizona, so unhappy are they with the administration's refusal (illegal refusal) to cooperate with the investigation.
Still, I think it worthwhile to keep an eye on just how widespread this corrupt monstrosity appears to be.
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