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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Embassy not told of ATF sting

Richard A. Serrano Tribune Washington bureau

WASHINGTON – As weapons from the United States increasingly began showing up at homicide scenes in Mexico last summer, U.S. Embassy officials cabled Washington that authorities needed to focus on small-time operators supplying guns to the drug cartels.

Embassy officials did not know that at least some of the weapons were part of a sting run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in which illegal purchasers were allowed to buy guns so smuggling routes into Mexico could be traced. Ultimately, ATF lost track of an estimated 1,700 weapons that were part of the so-called Fast and Furious operation, which began in November 2009.

Nearly 200 such guns were later recovered at crime scenes in Mexico. And two AK-47s from Fast and Furious were found in December at the scene of the fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.

The embassy cable, written in July 2010, is further evidence that ATF officials were keeping information about the sting from other branches of government, even after the operation lost track of some guns. The cable, labeled “Sensitive But Unclassified,” was obtained by the Tribune Washington bureau.

“This was a shout-out from the embassy in Mexico,” said a government official close to the investigation of the program. “The embassy knew something was awry when all these guns started showing up down there. But they were kept in the dark. They didn’t understand why the guns kept getting through and ending up at so many Mexican homicides.”

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

At ATF and Justice Department headquarters, officials declined to discuss the specifics of Fast and Furious, citing ongoing investigations.

The cable was sent to the State Department in Washington and about 50 officials received copies, including Carlos Pascual, who was then the U.S. ambassador; Darren Gil, then the ATF attache in Mexico City; and Gil’s deputy, Carlos Canino.

Gil and Canino are quoted in a separate report released Monday night by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. He and Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, of the Senate Judiciary Committee are investigating Fast and Furious.

Gil and Canino testified that the embassy was “kept in the dark” about the program even as the Mexican government was complaining about so many U.S. guns in the country.

Gil said when he first queried ATF officials in Phoenix, where the program was run, they told him the bare minimum. According to Gil, George Gillett Jr., then the acting special agent in charge, said, “We have an ongoing investigation… . Thanks for calling.”

He also questioned ATF headquarters in Washington, Gil said, and was told, “They have it under control.”

As he learned what had gone wrong, Gil said, he realized that ATF officials did not want Pascual to know about the operation, and that ATF feared the Mexican government would find out and lodge a formal complaint.

Gil recalled “screaming and yelling” with his Washington superiors. “It’s inconceivable to me to even allow weapons to knowingly cross an international border,” he said.

Gil and Canino said they later were advised that senior ATF leaders, including acting Director Kenneth Melson, as well as Justice Department officials and the U.S. attorney’s office in Phoenix, all had approved Fast and Furious. Melson said it was “providing some good intelligence” on gun smuggling.