Judicial Watch » Holder http://www.judicialwatch.org Because no one is above the law! Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:01:18 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 Judicial Watch Sues Department of Justice and ATF for Documents Pertaining to ATF’s “Fast and Furious” Gun-Running Operation http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-sues-department-of-justice-and-atf-for-documents-pertaining-to-atf-s-%e2%80%9cfast-and-furious%e2%80%9d-gun-running-operation/ http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-sues-department-of-justice-and-atf-for-documents-pertaining-to-atf-s-%e2%80%9cfast-and-furious%e2%80%9d-gun-running-operation/#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:18:26 +0000 admin- https://www.judicialwatch.org/?post_type=press_release&p=547 Contact Information:
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Washington, DC — October 12, 2011Judicial Watch, the organization that investigates and fights government corruption, announced today that it filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits on October 11, 2011 against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to obtain records related to an ATF “gun-running” operation known as Fast and Furious (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:11-cv-01796)), (Judicial Watch v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (No. 1:11-cv-01797)).Pursuant to a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed on July 13, 2011, Judicial Watch seeks the following the following records from the Department of Justice:

  • All records of communication, contracts and correspondence between ATF Director Kenneth E.
    Melson and any official, officer, or employee of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General (DAG) regarding ATF Phoenix Operation Fast and Furious.
  • All records regarding, concerning, or related to, the October 26, 2009 meeting/telephonic conference call between DAG David Ogden, Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Lanny Breuer, ATF Director Melson, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michelle Leonhart, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller, and other DOJ officials regarding the Southwest Border Strategy (including, but not limited to, any agendas, minutes, transcripts, notes, or presentations).
  • All records prepared for, or submitted to, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding, concerning, or related to, ATF Operation Fast and Furious.

Judicial Watch filed a similar FOIA request with ATF on the same day. Neither agency has responded by the statutorily mandated deadline, prompting Judicial Watch’s lawsuit.Judicial Watch is investigating the genesis of the Fast and Furious operation, which was reportedly discussed during the October 26, 2009, telephonic conference call, as well as information being provided to and/or withheld from Congress.“We’ve asked for basic information and we haven’t received one document from the Department of Justice or ATF regarding Fast and Furious. And, given their dissembling, Justice and ATF are apparently in cover-up mode. We think it is important that an independent investigation of this scandal take place and our lawsuits are a good way to do it,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

]]> http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-sues-department-of-justice-and-atf-for-documents-pertaining-to-atf-s-%e2%80%9cfast-and-furious%e2%80%9d-gun-running-operation/feed/ 0 Secrecy Rule Used To Cover Up Govt. Wrongdoing http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2011/02/secrecy-rule-used-to-cover-up-govt-wrongdoing/ http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2011/02/secrecy-rule-used-to-cover-up-govt-wrongdoing/#comments Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:39:56 +0000 akajas https://www.judicialwatch.org/?p=1096 Read the full post

]]> The most transparent administration in history is abusing a secrecy privilege to cover up embarrassing details of how the U.S. government got duped into wasting $20 million on bogus intelligence technology from a bankrupt computer programmer with a gambling addiction.Rather than dedicate resources to recovering lost funds or punishing the scam artist who fleeced taxpayers, Obama’s Justice Department is focusing only on hiding information by invoking a controversial “state secrets privilege” justified only in cases that could compromise national security. In fact, the feds have severed all ties with the con man—who faces criminal charges for unrelated crimes in Nevada—and are going to “extraordinary lengths” to keep his dealings with the government from becoming public.This mission to conceal government incompetence was first reported by a mainstream newspaper that reveals the feds had an eight-year relationship with theCalifornia man (Dennis Montgomery) who somehow convinced intelligence officials that his technology could catch terrorists. The unbelievable story features terrorism scares, secret White House briefings, support from prominent Republicans and backdoor deals.No wonder the government wants to hide the gory details of how it got hoodwinked into investing millions on software that had been flagged as dubious years earlier. In the last few months alone, the Justice Department has obtained protective orders from two federal judges in different parts of the country to keep records private.The effort to suppress information in this case actually started in the George W. Bush Administration, which was notorious for invoking the state secrets privilege to keep government records from going public. President Obama vowed not to abuse the exemption, however, and Attorney General Eric Holder issued new rules ordering agency heads to invoke it only when “genuine and significant harm to national defense or foreign relations is at stake.”Holder’s 2009 directive was designed to “strengthen public confidence” and provide “greater accountability and reliability” in the invocation of the state secrets privilege in litigation. It also specifically says that the Justice Department will not defend an invocation of the privilege in order to conceal violations of the law, inefficiency, or administrative error or to prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency of the United States government.

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