By Adrianna McGinley
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism questioned federal officials today about Operation “Fast and Furious,” and what measures should be enacted to prevent guns from “walking” into the hands of criminals in the future.
The program was carried out last year by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and involved allowing guns to be obtained in the U.S. by straw-purchasers who then sold them across the southern border to members of dangerous drug cartels. ATF agents were supposed to track the weapons to find out where they ended up, but several hundred went missing.
The mishaps of “Fast and Furious” were eventually exposed by a whistleblower at ATF after it was discovered that one of the guns that was allowed to “walk” into Mexico was used to kill a Border Patrol agent in Arizona last December.
At today’s hearing, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) hounded Lanny Breuer, Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ Criminal Division, about Breuer’s self proclaimed “mistake” of not informing top officials of the connection between Fast and Furious and the 2006-07 gun-walking operation Wide Receiver, which was commissioned under the Bush administration.
“I regret the fact that in April of 2010 I did not [inform Attorney General Holder or Deputy Attorney General Cole],” Breuer said. “At the time I thought that dealing with the leadership of ATF was sufficient and reasonable.”
He criticized the fact that ATF “failed” to stop weapons that they had “both the ability to interdict and the legal authority to interdict.”
Grassley, who serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, has co-led Congress’ investigation into the program along with House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) criticized the “hunt for blame” surrounding Fast and Furious and called for a focus on the root problem: domestic gun laws that allow “anybody [to] walk in and buy anything”.
“I’ve been here 18 years, I’ve watched the BATF get beaten up at every turn of the road and candidly, it’s just not right,” Feinstein said. “We have more guns in this country than we have people and somebody’s got to come to the realization that when these guns go to the wrong places scores of deaths result.”
Breuer said that of the approximately 94,000 weapons recovered in the last five years in Mexico, 64,000 of them have been traced to the U.S. He added that the number one tool to stop gun trafficking would be the authority to forfeit the weapons of dealers who knowingly sell to criminals.
“It is clear that we need more tools to get those people who are buying the guns and illegally transporting them to Mexico,” Breuer said. “We cannot permit the guns to go knowingly and we cannot permit the guns to go unknowingly. We need to stop the flow.”
Breuer emphasized that few law-abiding citizens are looking to buy semi-automatic weapons, and the lack of a requirement to notify ATF when such weapons are bought is a large part of the problem.
“Information is the tool we need to challenge and defeat organized crime. We are not even permitted to have ATF receive reports about multiple sales of long-guns, of any kind of semi-automatic weapon or the like.”
Other officials from the Departments of Justice (DOJ), Homeland Security (DHS) and Treasury also appeared before the subcommittee.
Staff
FCC Announces New Cyber Security Initiative For Small Businesses
By Adrianna McGinley
A broadband connection can increase annual revenue for a small business by $200,000, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Julius Genachowski, but only if there are adequate cyber security measures in place.
During a discussion Monday at the Chamber of Commerce, Genachowski praised the work of a partnership between the FCC, the Department of Homeland Security, and the private sector and announced the release of the “Small Biz Cyber Planner”, a free, online tool to help small businesses develop customized cyber security plans.
Genachowski cited a 2011 Connected Nations Study showing the financial benefits of being online for a small business but added if sufficient security measures have not been taken, the result of a cyber attack could average a loss of $200,000.
“Failure to take cyber security seriously can potentially negate the benefits of being online,” Genachowski warned.
According to a 2011 Small Business Cybersecurity Survey conducted by the National Cyber Security Alliance and Symantec, 77 percent of small and medium business do not have a formal internet security policy in place, and 48 percent do not have even an informal policy. Despite these numbers, 85 percent of the 1,045 small business owners surveyed, reported they feel their systems are secure.
“Not to consider cyber security is a little bit like leaving your money lying around on a table and thinking that that’s not going to be a problem,” said former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
The Symantec/NCSA survey found that because of high costs, 85 percent of small businesses have no outside IT support. Chertoff said there is a need to create security resources that are understandable and accessible to “ordinary mortals”.
“The beauty of what’s been launched here…is that it makes accessible to people who are not full-time technology wizards the basic instructions and basic elements of a cyber security plan,” Chertoff explained.
Genachowski also announced that this week, the FCC will vote to modernize the Universal Service Fund, in order to provide infrastructure to 18 million people in rural communities across the U.S. who currently have no broadband access. The goal, he said, is to have universal broadband access by the end of the decade.
“Connecting these communities will create and save businesses that otherwise couldn’t exist,” Genchowski noted.