The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) snubbed Rep. Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, on his Wednesday deadline for documents on the Project Gunrunner program and, specifically, Operation Fast and Furious, The Daily Caller has learned.
A spokesman for the committee told TheDC that ATF missed the deadline to produce documents on the operation that allowed gun smugglers to sell American guns to Mexican drug cartels. ATF was allowing the weapons to cross the border in efforts to track the illegal gun and drug markets using serial numbers and ballistics information from the American-sold guns – after people were killed or the guns were shot.
Issa fired off his request to ATF on March 16, giving them two weeks to fulfill it. Issa has also requested documents from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton because he and his committee staff believe the State Department was involved in the scandal as well. Issa gave Clinton and the State Department until April 12, two weeks from his Tuesday request, to provide their documents about Project Gunrunner.
What Issa was looking for from ATF was more information regarding an alleged connection between the guns allowed into Mexico and the shooting death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry on Dec. 14. He requested a list of people responsible for the decision to “walk” guns into Mexico with the goal of catching a “bigger fish,” in addition to all documents and e-mails relating to communications about Operation Fast and Furious and about Project Gunrunner.
Issa also requested specific information about the weapons that Mexican drug cartel members used to shoot and kill Terry. He asked if the two weapons found at the scene of Terry’s death were ones that were permitted into Mexico by ATF.