On September 19, the Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz released a 471-page report on Operation Fast and Furious. According to this report, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) did not consider public safety and the DOJ showed a severe lack of oversight. Fourteen officials were faulted by the report; after its release, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein resigned and ATF chief Kenneth Melson retired.

It is clear that the DOJ has violated the trust of the American people. Initially, the Department allowed an initiative that led to the death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and permitted the distribution of 1,500 weapons to members of drug trafficking organizations. Then, the DOJ consistently failed to cooperate with an investigation led by Chairman Darrell Issa of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. As I discussed earlier, senior Justice Department officials eventually admitted their involvement in Operation Fast and Furious but only after initially denying any knowledge of it. Attorney General Holder only provided some of the documents required by Chairman Issa’s subpoena.  After the Attorney General Holder had resisted the subpoena for eight months, I joined 254 of my colleagues in voting to find him in contempt of Congress.

The IG report has listed several recommendations to help the DOJ to strengthen the performance of ATF and the supervision and leadership of its officials. It also calls for the DOJ to review the conduct of all staff implicated by the report and decide whether discipline is appropriate in each case. Furthermore, if Attorney General Holder continues to fail to honor the subpoena by providing all relevant documents to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Chairman Issa has committed to pursue the civil contempt charge against him. Please know that I will continue to support efforts to hold the DOJ accountable and to ensure that a similar operation never occurs again.