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[h=5]Story Topics[/h]
- Law_Crime
- Dennis Burke
- Department Of Justice
- Michael E. Horowitz
- John Dodson, 1St Baron Monk Bretton
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The U.S. attorney in Arizona leaked an internal report to undermine a veteran Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent who was highly critical of the botched “Fast and Furious” gunrunning operation, the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General said Monday in a report.
Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz said ATF Agent John Dodson had provided significant information regarding the agency’s handling of the Fast and Furious probe and was retaliated against by U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke through the unauthorized disclosure in late June 2011 of an ATF memo the agent had drafted.
Mr. Horowitz, in the report, said Mr. Burke, who resigned after the Fast and Furious scandal had become media fodder, provided the memo to a Fox News producer in violation of Justice Department policies — a disclosure that “was likely motivated by a desire to undermine” Agent Dodson’s public criticisms.
The Dodson memo was among the documents the Justice Department had produced to or made available for review by two Congressional committees in connection with their investigation of Fast and Furious.
More than 2,000 weapons — including semi-automatic assault rifles — were purchased by “straw buyers” from gun shops in Arizona and “walked” to drug smugglers in Mexico in the Fast and Furious probe, and contributed to the deaths of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry and an unknown number of Mexican citizens.
In May 2010, Agent Dodson drafted and e-mailed a memo to his supervisor that proposed an operation in which he would act in an undercover capacity as a straw purchaser and deliver firearms to the suspected firearms trafficker but take no enforcement action upon delivery — a plan similar to the Fast and Furious operation.
He told the Inspector General’s Office that after reviewing the Fast and Furious operation, he did not understand how conducting surveillances of what appeared to be unlawful firearms purchases and transfers without taking any enforcement action – such as seizing the firearms – was a viable or responsible approach to developing the case.
He said he and the other agents thought that the new proposal would be rejected and when the managers saw such a plan in “black and white,” they would be shocked into realizing what they were doing in Fast and Furious. Agent Dodson told investigators that after his plan was approved he reluctantly went forward with it and that he still regretted delivering the firearms to the subject and letting them “walk.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee who first questioned the Fast and Furious probe, said the inspector general’s report outlines efforts to undermine Agent Dodson’s credibility, whom the senator called a “whistleblower who had the guts to come forward and tell Congress the truth about Operation Fast and Furious.”
Mr. Grassley said the report shows that Mr. Burke “went to great lengths” to discredit Agent Dodson and Congress’ investigation into the gunwalking that led to Agent Terry’s death.
Mr. Horowitz’s office had requested Justice Department components to identify all personnel whose official responsibilities required or permitted their access to the Dodson memo — receiving 152 names from 8 department components, including Mr. Burke, whose office oversaw the Fast and Furious investigation.
“Shortly after the OIG made its request for information from the department, Burke contacted an OIG investigative counsel by telephone and said that he had provided the memorandum to a reporter,” the report said. “The OIG learned during its investigation that Burke also admitted this to several other individuals after the OIG initiated its investigation, including to the deputy attorney general.”
The report said investigators did not identify any other department employee who had disclosed the memorandum to any other member of the media.
Mr. Horowitz said Mr. Burke’s unauthorized disclosure of the memo violated Justice Department rules pertaining to media relations. He also said there was “substantial evidence” Mr. Burke’s motive for disclosing the memorandum was to “retaliate against Special Agent Dodson, who two weeks earlier had testified before a Congressional committee regarding his concerns about Operation Fast and Furious.”
“The OIG found that Burke’s misconduct was particularly egregious because of his apparent effort to undermine the credibility of Dodson’s significant public disclosures about the failures in Operation Fast and Furious,” the report said.
Story Continues