was founded by John Podesta, who directed Obama’s transition into the White House in 2009 and served as White House counselor until earlier this year, when he took on the role of chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

The ATF’s primary mission is supposed to be to police the illegal market of guns and to target the criminal use of weapons.

However, the CAP report finds the ATF is “struggling” to successfully carry out its core functions. The report cites inadequate oversight and accountability throughout the agency, limited resources, operating restrictions and what it claims is a lack of effective coordination with other law enforcement agencies, especially the FBI.

Collecting data

The center says a merger with the FBI will allow the federal government to more effectively address interstate firearms trafficking, particularlyfor the end of 2011.

Project Gunrunner is purportedly meant to stop the sale and export of U.S. guns to Mexico by denying Mexican drug cartels firearms. However, the project allegedly has resulted in allowing thousands of guns to cross into Mexico, where many of the weapons currently are untraceable and in the hands of Mexican criminals.

The same guns run into Mexico under the Project Gunrunner scheme have been recovered from crime scenes in Arizona and throughout Mexico.

One gun recovered is allegedly the weapon used to murder Customs and Border Protection Agent Brian Terry on Dec. 14, 2010.

The entire project revolves around tracing the U.S. guns that are allowed into Mexico using the eTrace system.

The ATF repeatedly has stated its tracing system was not designed to collect statistics. Still,