ATF Rewards Agents Who Ran "Fast and Furious" and Then Helped Cover It Up

In what can only be described as "Washington D.C. logic," the three BATFE agents who were responsible for the "Fast and Furious" debacle in Phoenix have been promoted.

You read that right, promoted! Not reprimanded, not demoted and certainly not fired, but given bigger jobs with more responsibility and more pay.

Each of the agents now have high profile positions in D.C. William Newell is now special assistant to the assistant director of the agency's Office of Management, David Voth has been made branch chief for the BATFE's tobacco division.

And if those two promotions seem hard to understand, the third is particularly hard to fathom. William G. McMahon, who had been the BATFE's deputy director of operations in the West, has been made the deputy assistant director of the Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations. That is the division within BATFE that investigates misconduct by agency personnel.

Now, McMahon will be called on to investigate BATFE agents who abuse their positions. Perhaps in "Washington D.C. logic" it makes sense to put a rogue agent in charge of investigating other rogue agents. To the rest of the country, it makes no sense at all.

For months, the Department of Justice and the BATFE have stonewalled congressional inquiries into "Fast and Furious." These three agents were not only at the center of running the failed operation in Phoenix, but directly aided DOJ in the efforts to hide the truth from Congress.

In testimony before Rep. Darrell Issa's House Oversight Committee, all three evaded and dodged questions. This appears to be exactly what senior DOJ officials wanted and expected, and now they have rewarded the agents with promotions.

NRA has called for the resignation of attorney General Eric Holder. But all those involved in "Fast and Furious" should be fired. To promote them instead is a slap in the face of Congress and the American people.

Copyright 2011, National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action. This may be reproduced. It may not be reproduced for commercial purposes.