Kenneth Melson
Posted on 06/15/2011 10:19:05 AM PDT by jazusamo
The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released copies of redacted emails on Wednesday that detail the involvement of the head of the ATF in a controversial gun-tracking program as early as March of 2010.
The emails strike a stark contrast to letters the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) have sent to lawmakers in which they denied selling assault weapons to known and suspected straw purchasers for drug cartels and claimed that they made every effort to prevent weapons from going to Mexico.
In one of the emails, released by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), with the subject heading, “Director’s questions,” the supervisor of the “Fast and Furious” operation wrote to the assistant special agent in charge of Phoenix field operations with an Internet Protocol address for one of the video monitoring units in a gun store which was authorized to sell guns to the suspects.
The emails seem to indicate that ATF acting-director Kenneth Melson had asked for this information.
“With this information, acting Director Melson was able to sit at his desk in Washington and – himself – watch a live feed of the straw buyers entering the gun stores to purchase dozens of AK-47 variants,” said a Republican committee statement.
Earlier this year, in response to a letter from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to Melson asking him about his knowledge of the gun-tracking operation, the Justice Department wrote the senator and denied knowingly selling assault weapons to straw purchasers and stated that it made every effort to prevent weapons from going to Mexico.
In another email on March 10, 2010, the assistant special agent in charge of Phoenix field operations wrote to the supervisor of the “Fast and Furious” operation and said, “Not sure if you know, but Mr. Melson and Mr. Hoover are being briefed weekly on this investigation and the recent success with [redacted] so they are both keenly interested in case updates.”
The release of the emails come as Issa was holding a hearing on the gun-tracking program with ATF agents.
I’d like to see the emails too and prosecute these traitors...but I’m sure Charlie Sheen’s antics will be more important to report on (distract) by our watch dog (LOL!!)press “corpse”.
These Federal actions are outrageous and an obvious intentional attack on our God-given liberties.
There’s no doubt in my mind it’s Holder behind this. He may have discussed it with Zer0 but it had to have been a face to face with no way to prove it.
We do have a Extradition Treaty with Mexico.
That whole perjury proof really brought down Clinton administration, didn’t it?
You people that think this will amount to anything are starting to make me laugh.
Please brush up on that ancient 1990’s history on the hearings of US government officials and agencies before you start getting exited about this latest round of foolishness, please, for the sake of America.
Didn't Obama state this meme in a speech at some point? If so, when? And how does the date of his speech correlate with the dates of the denials?
Store owner: So, you want me to sell guns to illegals, and you promise you won’t prosecute me?
ATF agent: No, we will prosecute you if you don't do it. And you better not run off to the press or to Congress about this either. Remember what we did at Waco.
Bring the guns up to the deck and load with grape. You may fire when ready, Mr. issa!
Might I suggest they start with the WhiteWater hearings of 1995? Some of the exact same tactics successfuly used back then are being used as I'm typing this. Witnesses replying that they "...cannot answer that because it is currently under investigation." Back then it was about the Foswter suicide(?) while today it is about who knew what when.
If he RELEASED the emails how is that ‘leaking’ them?!
Kenneth Melson
The chain of command is this:
Barry Obama
Eric Holder (Attny General)
James Cole (Dep Attny General)
Kenneth Melson (Acting Director of ATF)
You won't know the players, unless you have a scorecard
This is probably one of the things Obama was referring to last week when he said that he was working on the gun control issue "under the radar."
Kenneth Melson Testimony - 03/04/2010
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (P.L.111-5) provided $10 million to ATF for the establishment of Project Gunrunner teams in Las Cruces, NM, El Centro, CA, and McAllen, TX, and to support existing staff at the US consulates at Tijuana and Juarez, Mexico. ATF is requesting $11,815,000 and 37 positions to annualize those resources. The annualization is necessary because the Act did not provide base funding for the salaries of the new special agents assigned to, nor the operation requirements of the three new Project Gunrunner locations.
Who would go for that?
That’s easy, someone already in a jam.
Someone they had something on.
That’s just they way they work.
Have seen the mafia do the same thing.
My landlord long ago got caught using a blackbox
to make long distance calls, the mob got him out
of it but then his Pizza Parlor became a strip joint.
Now that they have armed the Mexican drug gangs, they can send undercover federal agents to train and assist them. 0bama is making war on small business, why would it not be surprising that he conducts war directly on the people?
Thanks for the Melson pic and link to testimony.
Do we have the ATF knowingly acting in support of gun sales to people who they knew would/thought likely to “traffic” them into Mexico; as an extensive political effort in support of the claim that “gun sales” in the United States are a big part of the drug-violence problem in Mexico?
Altogether in support of the political agenda for “greater gun control”?
We will need to dismantle and rebuild the ATF.
How has Acting ATF Director, Kenneth Melson, a vehement gun-grabber, answered Senator Grassley’s requests for information about Project Gunrunner? He has informed agents that they “are in no way obligated to respond” to questions from Congress.
Rep. Darrell Issa has released emails that show ATF Director Kenneth Melson, who is overseen by Attorney General Eric Holder, not only knew about Operation Fast and Furious, but was being briefed on a weekly basis about the progress and was watching Cartels purchase weapons used to kill innocent people from his cozy office in Washington D.C.
-The first e-mail from March 10, 2010, to Operation Fast and Furious Group VII Leader David Voth indicates that the two most senior leaders in ATF, Acting Director Kenneth Melson, and Deputy Director Billy Hoover, were “being briefed weekly on” Operation Fast and Furious. The document shows that both Melson and Hoover were “keenly interested in case updates.”
- A second e-mail from March 12, 2010, shows that Deputy Assistant Director for Field Operations William McMahon was so excited about Fast and Furious that he received a special briefing on the program in Phoenix - scheduled for a mere 45 minutes after his plane landed.
-A third - and perhaps the most disturbing – e-mail from April 12, 2010, indicates that Acting Director Melson was very much in the weeds with Operation Fast and Furious. After a detailed briefing of the program by the ATF Phoenix Field Division, Acting Director Melson had a plethora of follow-up questions that required additional research to answer. As the document indicates, Mr. Melson was interested in the IP Address for hidden cameras located inside cooperating gun shops. With this information, Acting Director Melson was able to sit at his desk in Washington and – himself – watch a live feed of the straw buyers entering the gun stores to purchase dozens of AK-47 variants.
http://internationalextraditionblog.com/2011/05/23/mexico-extradition-treaty-with-the-united-states/
Treaty.
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