Fallen Border Patrol agent's girlfriend speaks about her hero | KVOA.com | Tucson, Arizona

Fallen Border Patrol agent's girlfriend speaks about her hero | KVOA.com | Tucson, Arizona

Border Agent Brian Terry had a bright future ahead of him, he was a human being, NOT an "egg" for the corrupt Administration and the ATF to "break".  His soon to be fiance gives us a glimpse of what kind of person the man she loved was to her and others.

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Kenneth Melson | Guns scandal: Justice Department trying to shield political appointees, ATF head says - Los Angeles Times

Kenneth Melson | Guns scandal: Justice Department trying to shield political appointees, ATF head says - Los Angeles Times

Justice Department trying to shield officials in guns scandal, ATF chief says
Kenneth Melson, the ATF's acting director, claims Justice Department officials refuse to release a telling internal report on the Fast and Furious operation.

Kenneth E. Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms… (Pat Sullivan / Associated Press)
July 19, 2011|By Richard A. Serrano, Washington Bureau
The Justice Department is trying to protect its political appointees from the Fast and Furious scandal by concealing an internal "smoking gun" report and other documents that acknowledge the role top officials played in the program that allowed firearms to flow illegally into Mexico, according to the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.


Kenneth E. Melson, the ATF's acting director, also told congressional investigators this month that the affidavits prepared to obtain wiretaps used in the ill-fated operation were inconsistent with Justice Department officials' public statements about the program. Justice Department officials advised him not to raise his concerns with Congress about "institutional problems" with the Fast and Furious operation, Melson said.

"It was very frustrating to all of us," Melson told congressional investigators in a private meeting over the Fourth of July holiday, "and it appears thoroughly to us that the department is really trying to figure out a way to push the information away from their political appointees at the department."

Not only was the department slow to react, Melson said, but Justice Department officials indicated they did not want him to cooperate with Congress.

A transcript of his comments was released Monday by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Melson said he wasn't attempting to shield his agency from its share of the blame. He acknowledged an instance in which his agents failed to intercept high-powered weapons when they could have.

"The deputy attorney general's office wasn't very happy with us" at the ATF, Melson said, "because they thought this was an admission that there were mistakes made. Well, there were some mistakes made."

Justice Department officials denied they were stonewalling the congressional investigation. They said they were cooperating and had been providing thousands of pages of documents and other material to investigators.

"Any notion that the department has failed to cooperate with the investigation is simply not based in fact," said Tracy Schmaler, a Justice Department spokeswoman. She added that the department's inspector general's office was reviewing the Fast and Furious operation.

"The department, like the committee, is interested in determining whether Operation Fast and Furious was appropriately handled," Schmaler said.

The intent of Fast and Furious was to allow illegal straw purchasers to buy guns so ATF agents could follow the weapons and ferret out gun-smuggling routes into Mexico. But many of the approximately 1,700 weapons eluded tracing — some even before they were shipped over the border.

Nearly 200 of the weapons were later found at crime scenes in Mexico, and two were recovered at the scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent's slaying in Arizona in December.



Melson said the Justice Department repeatedly thwarted his attempts to tell investigators about the failures of Fast and Furious, which was run out of the ATF's Phoenix field office. When the ATF reassigned managers in Phoenix, he said, "the department resisted" his offer to tell Congress about the changes. Melson said he was told not to issue any news releases about Fast and Furious and was instructed not to brief rank-and-file ATF agents about the growing scandal.

When Grassley sought to meet with Melson this year, the Justice Department blocked that interview too, Melson said. "This is really just poking [Grassley] in the eye," Melson said he told Justice Department officials. "He's going to get it through the back door anyway, so why are we aggravating this situation?"

Melson said he felt "very torn" when he learned after the operation went awry that some of the Mexican drug cartel leaders targeted in the program were paid informants for the FBI.

"Let me say that I am frustrated and disappointed in the way the whole thing has been handled, unfortunately," he said.

richard.serrano@latimes.com

Fast And Furious | Gun scandal: Republicans seek documents about Operation Fast and Furious - Los Angeles Times

Fast And Furious | Gun scandal: Republicans seek documents about Operation Fast and Furious - Los Angeles Times


Republicans seek documents related to Fast and Furious gun scandal
Congressional Republicans ask the attorney general's office to hand over emails and other material to determine the Obama administration's role in the operation that allowed U.S. semiautomatic weapons to flow to Mexican drug cartels.

(Alex Wong / Getty Images)
July 13, 2011|By Richard A. Serrano, Washington Bureau
Believing that the Operation Fast and Furious scandal reaches into the highest levels of the Justice Department, congressional Republicans asked the attorney general's office to turn over a sweeping trove of emails, documents and other material to determine Washington's role in the "reckless" operation that allowed U.S. semiautomatic weapons to flow to Mexican drug cartels.


"As our investigation into Operation Fast and Furious has progressed, we have learned that senior officials at the Department of Justice, including Senate-confirmed political appointees, were unquestionably aware of the implementation of this reckless program," they said in a letter to Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. made public Tuesday. "Therefore, it is necessary to review communications between and among these senior officials."

The investigation is led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The request for carte blanche access to "emails, memoranda, briefing papers and handwritten notes" could spark a political and legal fight over what, if anything, will be turned over.

A top Justice Department spokesperson, who asked not to be identified because of the ongoing investigation, declined to say how the Obama administration would respond, other than, "We will review their request."

The spokesperson added: "Already, hundreds of thousands of pages have been reviewed and over 2,000 produced or made available, and we also have provided witnesses for interviews. There are all sorts of ways we have been responsive to the committees' requests and we will continue to be."

An official from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the agency would not comment on an ongoing investigation.

Nevertheless, as one congressional investigator said Tuesday evening: "We've got questions. Lots of questions."

Several Washington sources, who also asked not to be identified because of the current investigation, said since the operation was managed out of the ATF field office in Phoenix, senior officials in Washington were not necessarily aware of its specifics.

Holder testified in March that he had recently learned of the program after two of the guns recovered from the December slaying of a U.S. Border Patrol agent were traced to Fast and Furious. Scores of others ended up at crime scenes in Mexico, after U.S. federal agents permitted the sale of about 1,700 guns to illegal straw purchasers in Arizona. The idea was to trace the weapons to Mexican drug cartels, but the ATF lost track of them.

The Republicans' latest request is to review all written communications to and from a dozen top officials. His top assistant, Deputy Atty. Gen. James Cole, is included, as are Assistant Atty. Gen. Lanny A. Breuer, and Gary G. Grindler, the former deputy attorney general now assigned to Holder's office. Three of the 12 listed officials are political appointees.

Republicans also are upset that the Justice Department and ATF announced Monday that they soon would require gun dealers in the four border states, including California, to report anyone purchasing two or more semiautomatics in a five-day period.


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Several internal ATF emails were released Tuesday, some indicating enthusiasm for the Fast and Furious operation in its early stages. In one, from January 2011, ATF officials described the program as lending support to their new reporting requirements, "to ferret out those intent on providing firearms to these criminal groups" in Mexico.

Another email, from July 2010, described the arrest in a Phoenix suburb of an illegal straw purchaser and former felon who was captured after a high-speed car and foot chase in which he broke his leg. In his vehicle, authorities recovered 20 rifles and two pistols that had just been obtained from a local store under Operation Fast and Furious.

richard.serrano@latimes.com

‪Brian Terry: Semper Fidelis & Honor First‬‏ - YouTube

Image by Jayel Aheram via Flickr‪Brian Terry: Semper Fidelis & Honor First‬‏ - YouTube






REST IN PEACE, BRAVE HONORABLE WARRIOR OF COURAGE

We Will Seek Justice For Your Senseless Death at the hands of those who were supposed to be concerned with your
interest and safety to the best of their ability. Instead they negligently put you in harm's way for their twisted
corrupt agenda. Your death will not be in vain, as it will be the Ultimate Symbol of What Saved This Country At the
Control of Evil shells of weak men. Your Sacrifice Was For the Greater Good. We Will Make Sure That This is Carried
Out through the Halls of Justice. Congressman Issa is determined to Make it Right and We Support Him With All We Have
in our Heart, Soul, and Willingness to Fight For Honor as You Were and Did. God Bless You Brian Terry ~ We Will Never Forget

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Losing Track of Lies, Loses Lives

‪Gunwalker scandal: CBS investigates ATF gun case‬‏ - YouTube

‪Gunwalker scandal: CBS investigates ATF gun case‬‏ - YouTube


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-Hve7Vqx1A&t=2s

Darrell Issa Grills Holder about Operation Fast and Furious. Brave ATF Agent Comes Forward as a Whistleblower despite Death Threats and Retaliation

ATF Agent Dobsyn's house was burnt down, investigation of arson ignored, numerous death threats, threats to his family with atrocious actions are not keeping this brave man from speaking out. He, too, is a hero and this administration should be tried and punished to the maximum for what's already clearly evident by what's been revealed to the public alone. No President is above the Law, Not even THIS one. The Corruption, Lies, and Deceit MUST END HERE AND NOW.

Eric Holder calls allegations of his department's responsibility for this despicable scheme "offensive". NO, Mr. Holder, YOU are offensive, despicable and a sick individual with no regard for the life of others, ESPECIALLY those who serve this country with courageous strength and honor, such as Brian Terry, a Hero of a man, a son, a brother, a protector of OUR COUNTRY, whose blood is on your hands. For Brian and the Terry Family, WE WON'T GIVE IN UNTIL JUSTICE IS SERVED.