ticklethewire.com
ATF is denying a report by the Los Angeles Times that said supervisors involved in the controversial and troubled “Operation Fast and Furious” were given promotions, NPR reported.
The ATF said the supervisors were “laterally transferred,” NPR reported.
Under Fast and Furious, ATF encouraged gun dealers to sell weapons to middlemen or straw purchasers, all with the hopes of tracing the guns to the Mexican cartels. ATF lost track of a lot of weapons, some which surfaced at crime scenes on both sides of the border.
The Times reported that supervisor William G. McMahon was named “deputy assistant director of the ATF’s Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations. William Newell, who headed the Phoenix field office during Operation Fast and Furious, became “special assistant to the assistant director of the agency’s Office of Management in Washington” and David Voth, who was the operation’s team supervisor, became “branch chief for the ATF’s tobacco division.”
An ATF press release said the the supervisors from “operational positions” to “administrative roles”, NPR reported.
“They did not receive salary or grade increases nor did they assume positions with greater responsibility,” the ATF statement read.
The LA Times had said it spoke to three ATF employees who characterized the moves as promotions, NPR reported.
Of the three job changes, the one involving William Newell never really seemed like a promotion.
Ticklethewire.com reported that Newell, who had headed the Phoenix Division during Operation Fast and Furious, was supposed to become the ATF Attache in Mexico City.
But his assignment was delayed and he was sent to Washington to help Congressional investigators look into the failed gun operation. The Mexican government was furious about the operation, and according to federal law enforcement sources, had talked about arresting Newell if he came to Mexico.
ATF then changed its mind and decided to keep Newell in Washington in a position that didn’t seem to be promotion — at least not when compared to the attache job.
and in other news…atf is denying that the earth is round. atf promotes the rascals involved. compounding the public outrage and enforcing the notion that their leadership is inept.