TOP BRASS CITED IN GUN STING

Emails Show ATF Director Involved iI Troubled Operation Tied To
Agent's Death

Lawmakers released documents showing that senior federal officials
were closely involved in a troubled gun-enforcement operation that
came to light after the death of a U.S. border agent in a shootout in
December.

The disclosures came at an emotional House hearing at which family
members of the agent testified. Republican lawmakers are pressing to
determine how high up knowledge and approval of the program went in
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and its parent
agency, the Justice Department.

Two assault rifles purchased at a gun store that was part of an ATF
probe called Fast and Furious were found at the scene of the Arizona
shooting in which the 40-year-old agent, Brian Terry, lost his life.
The program was created to monitor weapons purchases by suspected gun
traffickers. Agency officials hoped eventually to build a case against
major arms smugglers serving Mexican drug cartels.

Republican lawmakers leading an investigation of Fast and Furious say
the ATF didn't have the means to track the guns and should have known
that such tactics were dangerous.

At a hearing by the House oversight committee Wednesday, three ATF
agents made scathing assessments of decisions by agency officials to
refrain from arrests and allow suspected illicit gun purchases to
proceed. Agent Peter Forcelli said Fast and Furious exhibited a
"colossal failure of leadership."

The hearing also highlighted partisan differences, as agents raised
concerns about existing gun laws one called "toothless." They partly
blamed the laws for the aggressive ATF tactics now under scrutiny.
Democratic lawmakers at the hearing pounced on those comments to urge
consideration of new laws to address the problem of "straw
purchasers," small-time buyers who purchase firearms on behalf of
cartel smugglers. Many GOP lawmakers, and pro-gun Democrats, oppose
new laws.

Mr. Terry's mother and sister sat beside his cousin, Robert Heyer, at
the hearing as he tearfully read a statement on behalf of the family.
Mr. Heyer spoke of the family's anguish at learning of Mr. Terry's
death in a phone call in the middle of the night 10 days before
Christmas. He recounted how relatives received presents Mr. Terry had
mailed shortly before he was killed.

"We ask that if a government official made a wrong decision, they
admit their error and take responsibility for his or her actions," he
said.

Rep. Darrell Issa of California, chairman of the committee, and Sen.
Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary
Committee, released internal ATF emails that identified the senior
officials involved, including Kenneth Melson, the bureau's acting director.

One email among ATF officials describes Mr. Melson's request for the
Internet link to hidden cameras the ATF had planted in gun shops
cooperating with the Fast and Furious probe, Mr. Issa said, citing the
documents. That allowed Mr. Melson to watch a live feed of suspected
straw buyers purchasing AK-47-style rifles, Mr. Issa said.

The Justice Department has said the operation never was intended to
let weapons be trafficked to Mexico. Attorney General Eric Holder has
ordered an investigation of the operation.

An ATF spokesman declined to comment, citing the investigation.

Ronald Weich, assistant attorney general for legislative affairs,
testified but gave few details of the program. Mr. Weich said that if
the investigation found "flawed strategies" or "insufficient
surveillance of weapons," the responsible officials would be held to
account. The agents cited the reluctance by some prosecutors to bring
charges in gun-trafficking cases as another reason why the ATF
operation came about. Law-enforcement officials say it's hard to bring
cases. They cite a case in 2008 that was dismissed by an Arizona
federal judge, who ruled there was insufficient evidence to charge a
man with being an unlicensed gun dealer although he sold 400 firearms.
The judge said there wasn't enough proof of profit-making.

A congressional report produced ahead of the hearing included
testimony from four Phoenix ATF agents, who described how they and
other agents battled supervisors. The dissenting agents said they
wanted to make arrests instead of allowing illicit guns into
circulation, fearing they would lead to deaths. Supervisors insisted
that the investigation proceed, aiming to trace them to weapons
traffickers, the congressional report shows.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, of Maryland, the top Democrat on the oversight
panel, called the committee's findings so far "very troubling." He
cited testimony that instead of agents following the guns,
"surveillance of suspected straw purchasers was discontinued
repeatedly, seemingly for no reason, so agents could return to gun
stores to start over with new suspects."

ATF agents interviewed by congressional investigators described
supervisors trying to tamp down agents' misgivings about the strategy
to allow the weapons purchases.

An April 2010 email from an ATF agent in Mexico City to a bureau
official, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, discussed plans to
provide a classified briefing to Mr. Issa's own committee about
several cases, including Fast and Furious. A spokesman for Mr. Issa
said that the congressman wasn't briefed on specifics of the operation
and that staffers who attended the briefing don't recall the operation
being mentioned.