30 August 2011

Oops is now an ATF term

Sharyl Attkisson has an article at CBSNews.com about the director of the BATFE:
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives acting director Kenneth Melson is being moved out of the top job at the bureau, ATF special agents in charge announced during an internal conference call today. He will transfer to the Justice Department and assume the position of senior advisor on forensic science in the Office of Legal Programs.
The DOJ announced that Melson will be replaced by Todd Jones, the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota. "As a seasoned prosecutor and former military judge advocate, Jones is a demonstrated leader who brings a wealth of experience to this position," said Attorney General Eric Holder.
Also, Dennis Burke, the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, has submitted his resignation to President Obama, effective immediately. In an email sent to his staff Tuesday, Burke says his long tenure in public office has been intensely gratifying and intensely demanding. Burke was interviewed by Congressional investigators behind closed doors on 18 August.
Sources tell CBS News that the Assistant U.S. Attorney in Phoenix, Emory Hurley, who worked under Burke and helped oversee the controversial case, is also expected to be transferred out of the Criminal Division into the Civil Division. Justice Department officials provided no immediate comment or confirmation of that move. The flurry of personnel shifts come as the Inspector General continues investigating the so-called Gunwalker scandal at the Justice Department and the ATF.
The 'gunwalking' scandal centered on an ATF program that allowed thousands of high-caliber weapons to knowingly be sold to so-called "straw buyers" who are suspected as middlemen for criminals. Those weapons, according to the Justice Department, have been tied to at least twelve violent crimes in the United States, and an unknown number of violent crimes in Mexico. Dubbed Operation Fast and Furious, the plan was designed to gather intelligence on gun sales, but ATF agents have told CBS News and members of Congress that they were routinely ordered to back off and allow weapons to "walk" when sold. Previously, the ATF Special Agent in Charge in Phoenix, Bill Newell, was reassigned to headquarters, and two Assistant Special Agents in Charge under Fast and Furious, George Gillett and Jim Needles, were also moved to other positions.
Rico says it's amazing that, no matter how screwed up their operations, no one actually got fired...

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