A bipartisan push intensified Thursday for answers from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about a flawed storefront sting in Milwaukee.

A Journal Sentinel investigation this week exposed a 10-month federal operation marred by a series of mistakes and failures, including an agent's machine gun being stolen and burglars ripping off $35,000 in merchandise from the agency's phony store. Milwaukee police and ATF are still looking for that stolen machine gun, officials said Thursday.

"Suffice to say, ATF and the police department both have a keen interest in trying to get that firearm back," said Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn.

Mayor Tom Barrett joined the call for an investigation and two letters were sent to the ATF's acting director, one from a group of powerful lawmakers and another from U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).

The seven-page letter by four leading members of Congress called the flawed sting "disturbing" and asked acting director B. Todd Jones for written answers to more than two dozen questions related to the operation, dubbed "Fearless Distributing."

As a result of the sting, about 30 people were charged in federal and state court, most with low-level drug and gun counts. In at least three cases, the newspaper found, agents recommended charges against the wrong person, including a man who was in prison on a previous ATF case at the time he was accused of selling them drugs. The operation seized 145 guns.

"ATF must have rigorous oversight plans to ensure that these operations are conducted carefully," the letter from the four congressmen said. "Such management controls and rigorous oversight plans appear to have been absent during the botched Fearless Distributing case. Although not surprising, it is unacceptable."

The letter was signed by U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, (R-Wis.) chairman of the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations; U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, (R-Iowa), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; U.S. Rep. Darrell E. Issa, (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the chamber's head investigative committee; and U.S. Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

The lawmakers were among those who led the congressional probe into ATF's Fast and Furious operation in Arizona, where agents encouraged the sale of more than 2,000 firearms to traffickers by gun stores but lost track of the weapons. Many ended up at crime scenes in Mexico.

Sensitive document found

Separately Thursday, Barrett joined the call for an investigation into the operation, which included agents leaving an ATF operational plan at the store when they shut it down late last year. The document listed undercover agents' real names, vehicle descriptions, cellphone numbers and secret signals used when busting a suspect.

"Clearly, there is a need for an examination of what went wrong with this operation," said Barrett, a Democrat. "In particular, I am concerned about sloppiness with documents being left behind that potentially put people's lives in danger."

Two Milwaukee police officers worked with ATF agents on the effort, which was under the control of the agency's Milwaukee office.

Flynn called ATF a valuable partner in his department's efforts to get illegal guns off the street. He acknowledged the operation had problems and needs to be investigated.

However, Flynn said Congress has spent years damaging the ATF's ability to do its job by cutting funding and putting special restrictions on it that other agencies do not get.

"When you look at an agency over time, it requires consistent leadership. I don't think it is a shock that things may go wrong at the street level when there has been a willful attempt to undermine senior leadership to set a consistent direction. There is inevitably a domino effect," he said. "It is an operation where some things went wrong. Some things went right. Clearly better supervision would have been helpful."

President Barack Obama has nominated Jones to be permanent director. The agency has been without a director since 2006, when Congress passed a provision in the Patriot Act requiring the director to be confirmed. Sensenbrenner said he inserted the provision to bring the ATF in line with other agencies.

"All the other major law enforcement agencies had Senate-confirmed heads except the ATF," Sensenbrenner said in a written statement Thursday. "The goal was to give ATF more stature and credibility, and it was an attempt to strengthen the agency after some high-profile failures."

Barrett said the case shows the need for a permanent director to be confirmed by Congress.

On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), called the effort a "failed operation" and also said the case shows the need to confirm Jones.

Barrett said politicians from both parties are going to use the blunders of this operation to make a point.

"There are critics of the ATF who are going to use this as an example of its failure, and there will be those who are concerned that ATF has been handcuffed and are going to use this to make the argument that you can't defund and take away powers from an agency, fail to confirm a permanent director and then complain that it's not doing its job," he said.

Johnson sent a separate letter to Jones expressing concern about the way the operation was handled and anger at how agents treated the owner of the building where they located their undercover storefront. Johnson said he contacted the agency more than two weeks ago after learning about the damage to property but never heard back.

"With the President calling on Congress to give BATF expansive new powers under a so-called assault weapons ban and other broad gun control measures, I believe it is incumbent on the BATF to fully explain why incidents of mismanagement, such as last year's events in Milwaukee, continue to occur," Johnson wrote.

ATF spokesman Special Agent Robert Schmidt did not return calls seeking comment Thursday. U.S. Attorney James Santelle, whose office was briefed on the Milwaukee sting before it was launched, could not be reached for comment.

Flynn said the operational goal was to seize illegal guns in Milwaukee from across the city, not necessarily in the Riverwest residential area where the store was located.

"This is an attempt by ATF to focus on the firearm," he said. "This effort is one tool of many."

Barrett said he was briefed about the operation last year. He was told the task force was targeting illegal guns, but not that it would be a storefront sting or where the operation would be located.

Residents angry

Several residents in the Riverwest neighborhood, where the store was set up in a former sign company building, are upset the agency brought drug dealers and gun-carrying felons to their neighborhood. They learned about the operation from the Journal Sentinel.

Barrett said he plans to meet with residents. He declined to comment on ATF's selection of a densely populated neighborhood for the storefront sting. The defendants in the criminal cases that were filed are all from outside the area of the store.

David Salkin, who unknowingly rented his building to the agency for its undercover operation, said the ATF owes him about $15,000 because of damage to his building, unpaid utility bills and lost rent. The agency contends the amount is much smaller.

An ATF attorney told Salkin to file a claim with the federal government and warned him to stop contacting the agency.

ATF attorney Patricia Cangemi wrote to Salkin, saying in part, "If you continue to contact the Agents after being so advised your contacts may be construed as harassment under the law. Threats or harassment of a Federal Agent is of grave concern."

View original article