ATF guns sting: Fast and Furious operation A federal operation dubbed Fast and Furious allowed weapons from the U.S. to pass into the hands of suspected gun smugglers so the arms could be traced to the higher echelons of Mexican drug cartels. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which ran the operation, has lost track of hundreds of firearms, many of which have been linked to crimes, including the fatal shooting of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010. A U.S. Border Patrol agent arrives for a memorial service for slain comrade Brian Terry on Jan. 21, 2011, in Tucson. Terry was killed during a shootout the month before near the U.S.-Mexico Border. John Moore / Getty Images 11:59 AM PDT, September 19, 2012 8:44 AM PDT, September 19, 2012 Justice Department report due on Fast and Furious Exclusive: Five ATF officials found responsible for Fast and Furious WASHINGTON -- Republican congressional investigators have concluded that five senior ATF officials -- from the special agent-in-charge of the Phoenix field office to the top man in the bureau's Washington headquarters -- are collectively responsible for the failed Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation that was "marred by missteps, poor judgments and inherently reckless strategy." Issa: No evidence White House covered up 'Fast and Furious' fallout WASHINGTON - House oversight committee chairman Darrell Issa said Sunday that he has no evidence the White House was involved in what could be a Justice Department "cover up" to contain fallout from the botched "Fast and Furious" operation. House panel recommends Holder be found in contempt of Congress WASHINGTON -- The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform voted to find Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress for failing to provide subpoenaed documents in the flawed Fast and Furious gun-tracking case, just hours after President Obama asserted executive privilege and backed the attorney general's refusal to release the material. Negotiations break down between Holder, Issa over Fast and Furious WASHINGTON - Last-minute talks to stave off a House committee vote finding Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress broke down when the attorney general failed to provide subpoenaed documents to the panel in its ongoing investigation into the ATF's flawed Fast and Furious gun-tracking. Panel sets vote on whether Eric Holder is in contempt of Congress WASHINGTON -- Top House Republicans, saying the Department of Justice is "out of excuses," scheduled a committee vote to hold Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress for refusing to provide subpoenaed documents in the ATF's flawed Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation. Eric Holder grilled over Fast and Furious in Congress WASHINGTON -- One at a time, Rep. Darrell Issa held up a thick wiretap application form and slammed it on his dais in the elaborate House Judiciary Committee hearing room. Each time the Vista, Calif., Republican angrily read out loud the dates: May 15, 2010, April 19, 2010, May 7, 2010, May 17, 2010, June 2, 2010, and July 2, 2010. All of them, he said, "before Brian Terry was gunned down." Family of slain agent 'sickened' feds didn't share information Family members of slain U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry said they were "sickened" by reports that federal law enforcement agencies on the Southwest border did not share information about their investigations, and believe Terry would be alive today had the ATF known that two top targets in their Fast and Furious case actually were FBIinformants. 11:24 AM PST, December 8, 2011 Gen. Holder accuses critics of politicizing 'Fast and Furious' case Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., under fire for his Justice Department's Operation Fast and Furious, accused his Republican congressional critics of politicizing the failed gun-tracking program and warned that many of the more than 2,000 lost firearms will continue to show up on the southwest border "for years to come." 8:26 AM PST, November 8, 2011 Holder decries 'gotcha games' in Fast and Furious testimony Gen. Eric Holder on Tuesday called a botched gun-tracking scheme hatched by officials with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on the Southwest border "flawed in its concept, and flawed in its execution" in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. 2:40 PM PDT, October 18, 2011 'Fast and Furious' provision clears Senate In a stinging rebuke of the Obama administration and Attorney General Eric H. Holder, an amendment to prevent the Justice Department from conducting any future gun-tracking operations such as the failed "Fast and Furious" program in the future sailed unanimously through the Senate Tuesday. 8:46 PM PDT, October 8, 2011 Fast and Furious weapons were found in Mexico cartel enforcer's home High-powered assault weapons illegally purchased under the ATF's Fast and Furious program in Phoenix ended up in a home belonging to the purported top Sinaloa cartel enforcer in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, whose organization was terrorizing that city with the worst violence in the Mexican drug wars. 5:37 PM PDT, October 7, 2011 Gen. Holder strikes back at GOP critics Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. confronted a week of allegations that he had misled Congress about his knowledge of the failed Fast and Furious gun-tracking program, lashing out at his Republican critics and contending that he knew nothing about secret tactics to allow illegal arms sales on the Southwest border. 6:37 PM PDT, October 6, 2011 President Obama defends attorney general regarding ATF tactics President Obama insists neither he nor Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. knew federal ATF agents were permitting illegal gun purchases on the Southwest border, even as Republican lawmakers released new documents showing the attorney general was given general briefings on the Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation. 3:04 PM PDT, October 5, 2011 ATF officials reassigned in latest Fast and Furious fallout Two top supervisors at ATF headquarters in Washington -- the deputy director and the assistant director for all field operations -- have been reassigned as the beleaguered agency attempts to remake itself amid the fallout from a failed gun-tracking operation along the Southwest border called Fast and Furious, according to two sources briefed on the changes. 9:32 PM PDT, October 3, 2011 Emails show top Justice Department officials knew of ATF gun program Senior Justice Department officials were aware that ATF agents allowed firearms to be "walked" into Mexico, according to a series of emails last year in which they discussed two undercover operations on the Southwest border, including the failed Fast and Furious program. September 29, 2011 ATF Fast and Furious guns turned up in El Paso A cache of assault weapons lost in the ATF's gun-trafficking surveillance operation in Phoenix turned up in El Paso, where it was being stored for shipment to Mexico, according to new internal agency emails and federal court records. 5:00 PM PDT, September 19, 2011 Mexico still waiting for answers on Fast and Furious gun program Last fall's slaying of Mario Gonzalez, the brother of a Mexican state prosecutor, shocked people on both sides of the border. Sensational news reports revealed that cartel hit men had tortured Gonzalez, and forced him to make a videotaped "confession" that his high-powered sister was on the take. 9:14 PM PDT, September 11, 2011 Gun store owner had misgivings about ATF sting In the fall of 2009, ATF agents installed a secret phone line and hidden cameras in a ceiling panel and wall at Andre Howard's Lone Wolf gun store. They gave him one basic instruction: Sell guns to every illegal purchaser who walks through the door. 12:47 PM PDT, September 9, 2011 Congress expands Fast and Furious probe to White House Congressional investigators reviewing the failed gun-tracking program Operation Fast and Furious have formally asked the Obama administration to turn over copies of "all records" involving three key White House national security officials and the program, other ATF gun cases in Phoenix, and all communications between the White House and the ATF field office in Arizona. 3:49 PM PDT, September 8, 2011 Fast and Furious guns tied to second violent crime In the second violent crime in this country connected with the ATF's failed Fast and Furious program, two Arizona undercover police officers were allegedly assaulted last year when they attempted to stop two men in a stolen vehicle with two of the program's weapons in a confrontation south of Phoenix. 8:27 PM PDT, September 6, 2011 Republicans refuse to confirm leader for ATF despite its troubles Congressional Republicans have been upset at the management at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which authorized a botched sting operation near the Mexican border that put guns in the hands of drug criminals. Kenneth Melson, who oversaw ATF's Fast and Furious, steps down Kenneth E. Melson, who has faced heavy criticism in connection with the controversial Fast and Furious gun-trafficking investigation, announced Tuesday that he is stepping down as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF denies it promoted Fast and Furious supervisors The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Wednesday that three supervisors in its controversial Fast and Furious gun-trafficking investigation were transferred to lateral jobs, not promoted. August 17, 2011 Firearms from ATF sting linked to 11 more violent crimes 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. August 6, 2011 Drug agency played role in ATF gun sting The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration has acknowledged to congressional investigators that her agency provided a supporting role in the ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious run by their counterparts at the ATF. FBI report at odds with ATF claim on weapons The claim by senior ATF officials that none of the weapons lost in the botched Fast and Furious sting operation were used in the shooting of a Border Patrol agent is not supported by FBI ballistics tests, according to a copy of the FBI report on the shooting. U.S. Embassy in Mexico not told of ATF guns sting As weapons from the United States increasingly began showing up at homicide scenes in Mexico last summer, U.S. Embassy officials cabled Washington that authorities needed to focus on small-time operators supplying guns to the drug cartels. ATF sought to downplay guns scandal, emails show Two days after U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry was killed in December, the top ATF supervisors in Phoenix said in internal emails that weapons found at the scene in Arizona came from a failed agency sting operation. Justice Department trying to shield officials in guns scandal, ATF chief says The Justice Department is trying to protect its political appointees from the Fast and Furious scandal by concealing an internal "smoking gun" report and other documents that acknowledge the role top officials played in the program that allowed firearms to flow illegally into Mexico, according to the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Gun-smuggling cartel figures possibly were paid FBI informants Congressional investigators probing the controversial "Fast and Furious" anti-gun-trafficking operation on the border with Mexico believe at least six Mexican drug cartel figures involved in gun smuggling also were paid FBI informants, officials said Saturday. Editorial Gun control at the border The Obama administration took a concrete step toward curbing the flow of semiautomatic weapons to Mexico last week when it adopted a new regulation mandating the reporting of multiple sales of long guns to federal authorities. U.S. to require more gun-buyer information in border states As a backlash mounts over the government's failed Fast and Furious gun-tracing operation, the Justice Department will begin requiring firearms dealers in California and other border states to alert officials anytime they sell more than two semiautomatic rifles to someone in a five-day period. More U.S. agencies implicated in Mexico gun-trafficking probe The embattled head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has told congressional investigators that some Mexican drug cartel figures targeted by his agency in a gun-trafficking investigation were paid informants for the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration. Democrats seek crackdown on gun trafficking Two congressional Democrats, fresh from a trip to Mexico City, plan to propose tighter restrictions on gun trafficking to combat illegal U.S. sales that they say may supply 80% of the arsenals of Mexican drug cartels. ATF and Congress under the gun A congressional subcommittee has spent much of the last month investigating how a border security operation code named "Fast and Furious" allowed hundreds of guns to fall into the hands of criminals on both sides of the Mexican border. Federal ATF chief said to resist pressure to step down The acting director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is strongly resisting pressure to step down because of growing controversy over the agency's surveillance program that allowed U.S. guns to flow unchecked into Mexico, according to several federal sources in Washington. U.S. AK-47s linked to Mexican attorney's slaying A congressional investigation into a controversial federal gun-running surveillance operation is moving to Mexico this week amid new reports that two AK-47s sold in Arizona during the operation were found at the scene of a shootout with the suspected killers of a well-known Mexican attorney. ATF director to resign, agency sources say The acting director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is expected to step down because of a controversial gun-running investigation that allowed weapons to be sold to suspected agents of Mexican drug cartels, according to two sources inside the agency. ATF chief regularly briefed on botched gun operation A federal firearms investigation that allowed weapons from the U.S. to pass into the hands of Mexican smugglers was closely monitored by the very top leaders of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to internal emails released Wednesday by a congressional committee. Report describes gun agents' 'state of panic' Federal gun agents, concerned about weapons sales to Mexican drug suspects, begged to make arrests but were rebuffed, according to a congressional report on a controversial investigation. February 2, 2011 Guns tracked by firearms bureau found at firefight scene Two AK-47s bought in Arizona were used in a firefight that left a Border Patrol agent dead last month. The discovery comes amid a growing congressional investigation into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.