You don't think the ATF would plan a hugely spectacular raid as a media event? You don't think that such a raid would be co-incidentally timed to co-incide with Congressional budget hearings? You don't think the ATF would alert local TV news crews about such a raid in advance to make sure the made that day's news cycle?
The agents who conceived that fiasco would never have been rehired by the agency and subsequently promoted.
No, nothing like that ever happened before. Why would anyone suspect anything? Of course it's "conspiracy talk," look at this report by those tin foil hat wearing loonies at the fanatically right wing
Then there's things like institutional perjury, the "Good Ol' Boys Roundup." Remember that one?
ATF's credibility attacked by judges, own agents
Associated Press, 06/02/97 13:59 WASHINGTON (AP) - Still on the rebound from Waco and the
Good Ol'Boys Roundup, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms now is enduring attacks on its integrity from judges and its own agents.
In criminal and civil cases, judges have concluded ATF witnesses were not credible, had "failed to adhere to the high ethical standards expected of federal law enforcement" and had shown a "reckless disregard for the truth."
Four months ago, a former informant won the return of his gun dealer's licenses after producing a tape recording that conflicted with the testimony of an ATF supervisor. The agency knew about the tape but continued to stand by the testimony in court filings.
And during a training seminar at headquarters in Washington, a training supervisor declared that agents "always testify" in court that the agency's firearms registration database is 100 percent accurate "even though we know that isn't always the case."
None of the agents involved in a dozen cases in which questions of credibility were raised has ever been disciplined, according to a review by The Associated Press.
The agency says such incidents are isolated given the thousands of cases it handles - involving violent gunrunners, gang members and bombers - and that they are being blown out of proportion because of the recent negative spotlight cast on the bureau.
ATF agents were cited in 1996 for events that included drunkenness and racist behavior at gatherings dubbed Good Ol' Boys Roundups in Tennessee. And several were reprimanded for the 1993 botched raid on the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas. In the latter, the government concluded ATF supervisors made false statements to cover up errors.
"Clearly, a public perception still persists about the agency stemming from Waco and the roundup, but nothing can be further from the truth," said Stephen J. McHale, the agency's chief counsel.
"ATF agents consistently perform their duties with honesty and hard work, and in the few cases where there have been questions, the agents were testifying to the best of their recollections," he said.
Not everyone shares that view, including Vincent C. Noble, an agent in Louisville, Ky., who sued his agency claiming he was denied a promotion.
Last month, a supervisor in Noble's office acknowledged in a deposition that inaccurate and exaggerated information that reflected more positively on the agent who was promoted over Noble had been placed in her personnel folder.
"ATF is in the business of putting people in the penitentiary for lying on government forms, firearms licenses and the like. And here you have ATF supervisors admitting they lied on government forms and not a darn thing has been done," Noble said.
Agency officials declined comment on Noble's charges, citing the ongoing case.
In Ohio, a federal appeals court last year upheld a judge's 1992 ruling throwing out a search warrant that had been used to confiscate more than 50 weapons in the home of a convicted felon.
U.S. District Judge John M. Manos ruled the affidavit submitted by agent Stephen Wells was wrought with "serious omissions and misrepresentations and stale information" and that a key paragraph was "highly unreliable and defies credulity."
"In his zeal to secure a search warrant, Agent Wells displayed a reckless disregard for the truth as evidenced by his affidavit and changed testimony," Manos concluded. The agency appealed, but an appeals court in 1996 ruled Manos' tough-worded decision was "supported by the record." Wells denied wrongdoing and has since retired.
In Chicago, an administrative law judge in February ordered the agency to reinstate agent Michael Casali to the job it had tried to fire him from in 1996, concluding the agency retaliated against him for disclosing wrongdoing in ATF's Chicago office.
Judge Stephen E. Manrose ruled the agency "failed to adhere to the high ethical standards expected from federal law enforcement agencies" and may have engaged in an "intentional disregard of the law."
Cleveland-area gun dealer Mickey Downie, who has worked for the government as an undercover operative, won the return of his firearms licenses in February in a court-approved settlement - more than three years after ATF revoked them claiming he wrongly used a mailbox address.
Downie argued that supervisor Thomas Schneider gave him permission to use the mailbox address on his licenses to protect his identity during undercover work. Schneider testified he did not. Downie produced a tape recording showing he was given permission, and sued. Nonetheless, the agency continued to deny in a 1995 court filing that its agent had given the permission.
When asked why the testimony wasn't corrected, McHale said: "Schneider's recollection is what it is. And the bottom line is ultimately it is irrelevant ... because Downie could not legally be given permission to use a mailbox drop." He said Schneider was cleared of wrongdoing and was promoted to Washington.
Questions of credibility also have emerged inside headquarters, where a supervisor suggested during a training seminar that agents may have misled courts about the accuracy of the federal firearms registration database.
"Let me say that when we testify in court, we testify that the database is 100 percent accurate," supervisor Thomas Busey is quoted as saying in a transcript of the October 1995 seminar. "That's what we testify to, and we will always testify to that. As you probably well know, that may not be 100 percent true."
Busey added that a quality review team tested some data in the database and "our error rate was between 49 and 50 percent."
McHale said Busey recognized after he spoke that his comments were incorrect and sought reassignment. The agency conducted an internal review and concluded its agents had testified accurately.
I'm not saying that it's some dark-room conspiracy — never assume a conspiracy when ignorance, indolenece and incompetence can explain the situation. Also, in these cases the sheer volume of incompetence means some of it is likely being overlooked.
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