Fast and Furious: U.S. Attorney sought to discredit agent by leaking documents

The former U.S. attorney in Arizona sought to undermine criticisms by a veteran Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent concerning the botched “Fast and Furious” gunrunning investigation with his release of an internal agency document to the media, 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 memorandum the agent had drafted.

Mr. Horowitz, in the report, said Mr. Burke, who resigned in after the Fast and Furious scandal had become media fodder, provided the memorandum to a Fox News producer in violation of 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 “walked” from gun shops in Arizona 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.


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