By Mike Wiser, PBS FRONTLINE, Greg Gordon, McClatchy Newspapers, and Stephen Engelberg, ProPublica WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has called into question a key pillar of the FBI’s case against Bruce Ivins, the Army scientist accused of mailing the anthrax-laced letters that killed five people and terrorized Congress a decade ago. Shortly after Ivins committed…
By Josh Gerstein Politico WASHINGTON — The unfolding scandal over a gunrunning investigation allegedly botched by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could do what years of criticism of the long-beleaguered agency never quite accomplished — result in its demise. That, at least, is the view of some former ATF employees and advocates…
By Joel Rosenblatt Bloomberg Large-scale growers, sellers and distributors of marijuana may be prosecuted in states that have passed laws permitting medical use of the drug, according to a Justice Department memo obtained by Bloomberg News. The June 29 memo, from Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole to U.S. attorneys, says a 2009 memo issued…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The FBI has gotten plenty pats on the back for capturing Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, who had been on the run for 16 years and was a long-time snitch for the bureau. But the capture has dredged up plenty of old wounds — the fact that the FBI protected Bulger…
James Cavanaugh was an ATF agent and supervisor for 33 years before retiring in 2010. By James Cavanaugh For ticklethewire.com Since 2006 the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives has been without a confirmed director to lead its critical missions for America. I spent more than 33 years in ATF and I have worked…
By The Washington Examiner Editorial Page WASHINGTON — Credible media reports have it that Kenneth Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, will get his walking papers this week as a result of his approval of Operation Fast and Furious, aka “Gunwalker.” That’s the program in which ATF purposely allowed…
By The New York Times Editorial Page The Obama administration has long been bumbling along in the footsteps of its predecessor when it comes to sacrificing Americans’ basic rights and liberties under the false flag of fighting terrorism. Now the Obama team seems ready to lurch even farther down that dismal road than George W….
By Jerry Markon The Washington Post WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s decision to charge former presidential candidate John Edwards with campaign finance violations drew criticism from legal experts, including some former prosecutors, that the case was too aggressive. In the months before the indictment, the Justice Department took flak from government watchdogs for dropping corruption…
