Another frightening twist in the Fast and Furious scandal.
According to a new report by the DOJ Inspector General, Dennis Burke, former U.S. Attorney for Arizona, sought to undermine ATF Special Agent John Dodson by leaking a confidential memo.
The memo contained sensitive information about a proposed ATF undercover operation, one in which Dodson would deliver guns to a firearms trafficker. Burke allegedly released the contents of the memo to a reporter in 2011, shortly after Dodson testified before the House Oversight Committee and expressed his misgivings about Fast and Furious.
More from the invaluable Sharyl Attkisson:
Dodson evidently had a target on his back:
From Attkisson’s March 2011 report:
An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms senior agent assigned to the Phoenix office in 2010, Dodson’s job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen.
…
“I’m boots on the ground in Phoenix, telling you we’ve been doing it every day since I’ve been here,” he said. “Here I am. Tell me I didn’t do the things that I did. Tell me you didn’t order me to do the things I did. Tell me it didn’t happen. Now you have a name on it. You have a face to put with it. Here I am. Someone now, tell me it didn’t happen.”
Agent Dodson and other sources say the gun walking strategy was approved all the way up to the Justice Department. The idea was to see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret from Mexico.
Burke himself played an integral role in overseeing the disastrous Operation Fast and Furious. A whistleblower like Dodson would have posed a very real threat to Burke’s credibility.
Terrifying.
