By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com ATF official William Newell, who frustrated Congressional committee members and angered fellow agents with his ambivalent and less than forthright Congressional testimony in July on the controversial Operation Fast and Furious, now admits his testimony “lacked clarity”, Fox News reports. Newell, who headed up ATF’s Phoenix office during Operation Fast and…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com In an attempt to avoid layoffs and furloughs, ATF will offer approximately 400 buyouts, reports the trade magazine Government Executive. The buyouts will be both at headquarters and field offices. Audrey Stucko, acting director for human resources and professional development, said the move is an attempt to deal with a tight…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Ex-Secret Service James Richard Bartee, Jr., who protected President George H.W. Bush, has announced that he’s running for sheriff in Oconee County, S.C. in the Republican primary, the Independent Mail reported. The paper, which described Bartee as a “54-year-old private investigator and aikido dojo owner” quoted him as saying: ”I decided…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Ooops. The oops began when the FBI in San Diego notified the Springfield, Or. cops that a man in that community had purchased a suicide kit from a 91-year-old retired science teacher in California. The FBI had raided the California woman’s home four months ago and then started — although belatedly…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III visited Pakistan Wednesday, the country where Osama bin Laden took refuge and was killed by the American military in May, the Associated Press reported. The visit comes as tension mounts over the U.S. demands that Pakistan crack down on Afghan militants hiding out in Pakistan,…
By Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) Ashbury Park Press Ten years ago, America was a nation shaken by grief and terror. Nearly 3,000 people had perished in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and in the thwarted attack on the Capitol. Federal authorities were warning the public that additional al-Qaida “sleeper cells”…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Keith L. Bennett, deputy assistant director for the FBI’s Training Division, is getting a bump up to assistant director of the agency’s Inspection Division, the FBI announced Wednesday. Bennett began his career as an FBI special agent in 1987 and was initially assigned to the Salt Lake City Division, where…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Patricia Gonzalez has worked for years with US officials on combatting and prosecuting drug violence. Last fall, Gonzalez, the Mexican state of Chihuahua’s top state prosecutor, watched helplessly as the media reported on her brother Mario’s kidnapping and torture at the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Mario was forced to record…
