Project Gunrunner: White House and DoJ Knowledge and Oversight
BY Herschel Smith
13 years, 6 months ago
In what is apparently a newly discovered document concerning the scandal involving the BATFE and weapons trafficking to Mexico, MSNBC has released Project Gunrunner: A Cartel Focused Strategy, September 2010, U.S. Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
World Net Daily points out that:
Gunowners of America President Larry Pratt says that the official U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobaco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, document linked on MSNBC suggests a coordinated effort between the bureau, the Department of Justice and the White House.
“In the Gunrunner document, they talk about the need to have policies that are consistent with policies directed by the White House and the Department of Justice,” Pratt explained.
I concur, but I think that the word “suggest” is too weak. Page 5 contains the following.
… over the past few months enforcement strategies (and other guidance) that address firearms trafficking to Mexican cartels have been developed and released by the White House and the Department of Justice. It is essential that ATF efforts support strategies promoted by the White House and Department of Justice. An examination of these and other strategies reveals similarities among the strategies, but also suggests that some revisions to ATF’s current strategy are necessary.
The context is that the report doesn’t claim to supersede project gunrunner, but to incorporate and expand it. The report is not a request for consistency (that would be the function of an interdepartmental memorandum), but a claim of consistency. The BATFE is following the direction of the DoJ and ultimately the White House.
So ends the possibility that this administration can claim plausible deniability. Whatever else we know about this scandal, we know that the highest levels of the administration approved the use of federal resources to catalyze violation of federal law concerning straw purchases. We also know that Mexican drug cartels have weapons that they otherwise wouldn’t have all because of this project.
The administration must answer for this malfeasance.
The report can be found here: Project Gunrunner.
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