Guns put into the hands of ruthless drug cartels as a result of Obama Justice Department incompetence through Operation Fast and Furious are being linked to 11 violent crimes in the United States. The crimes were committed as early as January 2010, an entire year before Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered 11 months later in December 2010, but the fatal program continued.
Firearms from the ATF's Operation Fast and Furious weapons trafficking investigation turned up at the scenes of at least 11 violent crimes in the U.S., as well as at a Border Patrol agent's slaying in southern Arizona last year, the Justice Department has acknowledged to Congress.
The department did not provide details about the crimes. But The Times has learned that they occurred in several Arizona cities, including Phoenix, where Fast and Furious was managed, as well as in El Paso, where a total of 42 weapons from the operation were seized at two crime scenes.
The new numbers, which expand the scope of the danger the program posed to U.S. citizens over a 14-month period, are contained in a letter that Justice Department officials turned over to the Senate Judiciary Committee last month.
In the letter, obtained by The Times on Tuesday, Justice Department officials also reported that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials advised them that the agency's acting director, Kenneth E. Melson, "likely became aware" of the operation as early as December 2009, a month after it began.
Melson has said he did not learn about how the operation was run until January of this year, when it was canceled.
Townhall has put in a request to the Justice Department for the letter mentioned above.
In case you missed it, three of the ATF Agents who oversaw the implementation of Operation Fast and Furious have been promoted.