"The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Thursday sidelined three senior officials pending the outcome of an investigation into a botched sting that allowed hundreds of guns to be smuggled to violent Mexican drug cartels,"Jeremy Pelofsky of Reuters reports this evening in a story appearing on the Chicago Tribune website.
ATF reassigned Deputy Assistant Director William McMahon, the head of the ATF's Washington field office William Hoover and the head of its Baltimore office Mark Chait to non-operational positions.
"These new assignments will remain in effect pending the outcome of the OIG (Office of the Inspector General) investigation," ATF spokesman Scot Thomasson said in a statement. The decision was made by ATF Deputy Director Thomas Brandon, he said.
This confirms the exclusive stories broken last night by this correspondent and Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars, and elaborated on this afternoon by Dave Workman. It is one more in a series of exclusives showing how new media continues to outperform the establishment press--as has been the documented case from day one of "Project Gunwalker" reporting. And while recognition has not been forthcoming, it further establishes the credibility of reporting and access to sources that most "professional" media outlets have not exhibited the interest or the capability to attain in this continually unfolding story.
Vanderboegh weighs in on this development here.
Also see:
- More Shakeups at ATF Over Fast and Furious
- A Journalist’s Guide to ‘Project Gunwalker' for a complete list with links of independent investigative reporting and commentary done to date by Sipsey Street Irregulars and Gun Rights Examiner. Note to newcomers to this story: “Project Gunrunner” is the name ATF assigned to its Southwest Border Initiative to interdict gun smuggling to Mexico. “Project Gunwalker” is the name I assigned to the scandal after allegations by agents that monitored guns were allowed to fall into criminal hands on both sides of the border through a surveillance process termed “walking” surfaced.
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