A report on the failed gun-walking operation known as “Fast and Furious” was released today blaming insufficient supervision as the leading cause of this anti-gunrunning program.

Individuals from Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) were cited as having failed to send information up the chain of command and failing to ask enough questions about the tactics used in the operation.

The “Fast and Furious” program was run out of the ATF’s Phoenix field office in 2009 and 2010. As part of that undercover operation, ATF agents allowed thousands of guns to be illegally acquired from Arizona gun shops by straw purchasers and smuggled into Mexico.

The idea behind letting the weapons “walk” across the border was to trace them to powerful drug cartels, but once the program was underway ATF agents realized they had no dependable way to monitor the firearms, ultimately losing track of some 2,000 guns.

The report recommends disciplinary or administrative action against the 14 individuals named but no criminal prosecution is recommended.  The report does not implicate Attorney General Eric Holder and notes that he did not know about the failed operation until February, 2011 well after the shooting death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry with a “Fast and Furious” weapon. 

The report also chides officials involved for not informing Mexico through the Attorney General when the guns were flowing into its borders. 

Resignation are now starting with Kenneth Nelson former acting director ATF “retiring” and Jason Weinstein deputy Attorney General at DOJ resigning today.