Homeland Security IG Investigates Fast and Furious

By: Sharyl Attkisson
Topics: News ,; Law and Order

CBS News has learned a second Inspector General (IG) is investigating Operation Fast and Furious: Homeland Security.

As CBS News previously reported, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had special agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) assigned to Fast and Furious, which was run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) out of Phoenix, Ariz. During that case and similar weapons trafficking operations, ATF allowed thousands of weapons to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. The idea was to capture the "big fish" in a cartel. The strategy was called to an abrupt halt after it was publicly exposed. Two weapons from Fast and Furious were used in the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in December 2010.

Investigative sources say ICE became involved in Fast and Furious in late 2009 when the agency began its own weapons smuggling probe and discovered the suspects were also being investigated by ATF. An ICE special agent was then put on the ATF case, and later replaced by a second special agent. That agent worked on Fast and Furious through February 2011, serving as a liaison between ATF and DHS. Law enforcement and investigative sources say the ICE special agent was also involved in investigation and surveillance activities.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testified to Congress on Sept. 13, 2011, that she was unaware of Fast and Furious while it was under way. Napolitano said she could not recall when she first learned that Fast and Furious weapons were linked to Border Patrol Agent Terry's death.

Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX) sits on the House Homeland Security Committee and requested the DHS IG investigation. The DHS IG has told Congressional staffers it expects to have a final report ready to deliver to Congress in early October.

DHS is said to be fully cooperating with the investigation and has turned over boxes of documents. The Inspector General has said it plans to send staff to Arizona to conduct interviews in the coming weeks.

The Justice Department IG has been investigating the case at Attorney General Eric Holder's request since Feb. 2011. No timetable has been given for release of a final report.

Sharyl Attkisson
Sharyl Attkisson is a CBS News investigative correspondent based in Washington. All of her stories, videos and blogs are available here.
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by Esplanade October 2, 2012 4:07 PM EDT: IF IT'S RED THEN READ ABOUT IT; Reply to this comment


by leveractionjake May 26, 2012 3:23 AM EDT: Janet Napolitano has already been covering for Obama and Holder on F&F and yet she is head of Homeland Security, so what makes anyone believe this will be a fair and honest investigation? They will try to find a scape goat and most likely continue to blame the problem on our Second Amendment freedoms and states that respect these rights.; Reply to this comment

by VRWCmember20 May 22, 2012 10:36 PM EDT

(Boehner letter - cont)
Elected officials in leadership positions should take acute notice of Florida Congressman Allan West's statement when he said: "It is a slap in my face as a professional African American member of Congress and a career military officer, that this gentleman who is the head of the Department of Justice is going to resort to that very nefarious theme of the race card." It is astounding to consider that Congressman West is referring to the highest law enforcement officer of the land.

You make mention in your recent letter to the AG of hope in finding the truth to provide closure for the Terry family and in repairing our relationship with the Mexican government.
Subsequent actions of the Justice Department over the past fifteen months show those items fall far down on the list of Mr. Holder's priorities if he in fact ever intends to legitimately address them.

Instead of trying to resolve the details of how and why a horribly conceived operation like Fast & Furious came to be through Judiciary hearings, the minority members of the Judiciary committee continue to push an agenda for more gun control regulations along with chatting up common cause with the AG who shares their gun control agenda.

We the People cannot benefit from the protection of rule of law if the chief law enforcement officer acts in contempt of Congress. The American people need to have unwavering trust in him regardless of political affiliation. I believe Mr. Holder has obliterated that trust. Therefore, I respectfully request that you share common cause with Chairman Issa and allow contempt proceedings toward U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to proceed without further delay.

Thank you for your time and service to our country. Sincerely, a conceerned citizen

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by rshawk May 23, 2012 11:10 AM EDT: This concerned citizen will also sign your letter.


by VRWCmember20 May 22, 2012 10:33 PM EDT: Speaker John A. Boehner
7969 Cincinnati-Dayton Rd Ste B
West Chester, OH 45069

Dear Speaker Boehner:
As you are aware, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Daryl Issa has written a memo requesting that Congress hold Mr. Holder in contempt as a result of his noncompliance with the subpoena issued by the Mr. Issa on October 12, 2011. Accordingly, I respectfully urge you to provide your considerable leadership power to facilitate Mr. Issa's follow through with formal contempt proceedings.

As it shows no legal justification for not fully complying with Chairman Issa's subpoena, Deputy Attorney General James Cole's May 15, 2012 response letter to Chairman Issa is just the latest of many examples showing a consistent pattern for the blatant disregard for rule of law -in which every other average U.S. citizen would most likely be arrested- by the Holder led Justice Department.

A suggestion appears to have been made in certain public quarters that the Republican controlled House of Representatives would like to avoid a vote toward holding the Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, for fear of being seen as members of a partisan "witch hunt" during an election year. I believe entertaining this reason of thought within any levels of Congress would be reprehensible and scandalous. As a U.S. citizen who is very concerned with past and present actions of the Obama Justice Department, I feel very strongly that the seriousness of this situation goes well beyond any reasonable view of being a partisan matter.

As Chairman Issa has recently pointed out, had the Justice Department demonstrated a willingness to cooperate with the investigation of Fast & Furious from the outset, the investigation likely would have concluded before the election year even began. (cont); Reply to this comment


by rshawk May 22, 2012 8:37 PM EDT: Sounds like more of the same. Another layer on the stone wall.; Reply to this comment


by ihavemydoubts May 22, 2012 5:04 PM EDT: Thank you so much Sharyl for taking the lead and staying atop this story which most media outlets would prefer to forget. It blows my mind that so many are willing to dismiss as "no big deal" this wide spread and long running criminal activity committed by federal law enforcement agencies, not just agents but agencies.; Reply to this comment