ATF Director to Be Reassigned Amid Fast and Furious Uproar

By William Lajeunesse

Published August 30, 2011

FoxNews.com


Kenneth Melson has been acting director of the ATF since 2009.



The acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is being moved to an undisclosed position in the Department of Justice, sources told Fox News on Tuesday.

An announcement was expected as early as Tuesday about Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson, whose agency is caught up in a firearms trafficking scandal dubbed Operation Fast and Furious.

The purge of those responsible for the botched program continued as new documents reveal a deeper involvement of federal agencies beyond ATF.

In Phoenix, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley, who oversaw Fast and Furious on a day-to-day basis, was reassigned from the criminal to civil division. His boss, U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke, was on the hot seat last week and spoke to congressional investigators. According to multiple sources, he got physically sick during questioning and could not finish his session.

Also in Phoenix, three out of the four whistleblowers involved in the case have been reassigned to new positions outside Arizona. Two are headed to Florida, one to South Carolina.

Hurley's reassignment follows the promotions of three ATF supervisors responsible for the operation. William G. McMahon, a former deputy director of operations, took over the Office of Professional Responsibility. Field supervisors William D. Newell and David Voth, also moved up despite heavy criticism.

Their reassignments follows a series of reports on Fox News detailing the face-off between Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, whose investigators have recently broadened their probe. It now reportedly shows a deeper involvement of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.

Operation Fast and Furious, a program designed to track illegal gun sales, turned into an embarrassing scandal after weapons linked to it were found at the scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent's murder last year. Thousands of guns ended up in the hands of Mexican cartel members.

Melson has led the agency since April 2009 supplanting a Bush administration acting director who was also unable to get Senate confirmation over the objections of gun rights groups. It was during his tenure that the ATF Phoenix office began Operation Fast and Furious in the fall of 2009.

With Melson's reassignment, Holder will have to fill the top job at ATF. The likely replacement, ATF Chicago Office head Andrew Traver, was nominated last November by Holder. His nomination is opposed by the National Rifle Association.


Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/30/sources-atf-director-to-be-reassigned-amid-fast-and-furious-uproar/#ixzz1WWtxb1hE
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