National ATF headquarters in Washington, D.C. (UPI Photo/Patrick D. McDermott) |
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- A U.S. Justice Department official apologized for not calling attention to concerns dating to 2006 about guns being allowed to cross the border into Mexico.
ABC News reported Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, the head of the department's criminal division, said in a statement Monday he knew in April 2010 about Operation Wide Receiver, in which hundreds of guns were illegally transferred to suspected arms traffickers during the Bush administration.
The same tactic has been used in the controversial Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Operation Fast and Furious, and the Justice Department told Congress this year it was trying to seize weapons that had been purchased illegally under the program.
"Knowing what I now know was a pattern of unacceptable and misguided tactics used by the ATF, I regret that I did not alert others within the leadership of the Department of Justice to the tactics used in Operation Wide Receiver when they first came to my attention," Breuer said in the statement.
He said when allegations about Fast and Furious became public this year, leadership at ATF and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona told the Justice Department the allegations were untrue.
"As a result," Breuer said, "I did not draw a connection between the unacceptable tactics used by the ATF years earlier in Operation Wide Receiver and the allegations made about Operation Fast and Furious, and therefore did not, at that time, alert others within department leadership of any similarities between the two. That was a mistake, and I regret not having done so."
The ATF lost track of most of about 2,000 weapons purchased illegally under Fast and Furious.
Last December, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed south of Tucson and two firearms from the Fast and Furious program were discovered at the scene.
