Serial perjurer "Waco Jim" Cavanaugh sounds off on the appointment process of an ATF Director. Vince Cefalu for Director?
Serial perjurer "Waco Jim" Cavanaugh -- who has been serving as the ATF's unofficial criticism deflection spokesman ever since he retired (no point in subpoenaing him since he's no longer in the chain of command so the SOB can say anything he wants without factual challenge) -- tells us that the Director position of the ATF should be made "non-political." Cavanaugh wants to put the appointment process out of the reach of those blue meanies at the NRA. The meme, of course, is on track with the firearm confiscationist crowd's assertion that the Gunwalker Scandal would never have happened if the ATF had a permanent director. Here's the latest example of that from the editorial page of the Chicago Tribune.
What horsecrap.
Robert Mueller of the FBI, Hillary Clinton at State, Janet Napolitano at DHS, and all the heads of the various subordinate agencies except ATF were permanent appointees. They all saluted the Gunwalker idea when it was run up the flag pole and made sure their agencies got in line with the White House's desires. Each of those agencies is still covering up their own culpability in the worst federal government scandal ever.
If you know much of "Waco Jim's" career, the hypocrisy drips from every sentence.
Leaders earn and gain their real power not from certificates or anointments, rather from three things: Their integrity, their willingness to accept responsibility and their experience and competence to do the job.
So, in essence, the most effective way to get that leader is to keep it where it had been for the many decades: In the career civil service and in the career Senior executive service. The Justice Department can choose a very able person from that system to head up the agency.
I believe the director of ATF should be an ATF Special Agent, one who has sat out all night in the rain on a surveillance, worked on difficult bombings and arson cases, made undercover buys from violent felons, worked with victims of violent crime, talked to gun and explosives dealers and understands their issues, obtained and served dangerous search warrants, testified many times as a witness, worked with informants, heard shots fired in anger, and listened to the hate filled rants of Klansmen and militiamen neo-Nazis.
In other words, a leader who understands and has experienced the unique challenges that ATF faces.
Riiiight. Here's the real motivation of this piece. Cavanaugh, as savvy a political player in ATF's senior executive service as there ever was, a man willing to commit perjury to protect himself and his bosses, a man who was such a "team player" that he let the Waco dynamic raid go forward even when he knew the security was compromised at the risk of his own men, is speaking from his own ego here.
According to my sources within the ATF, HE always wanted to be Director, always thought he deserved it, and yet after Waco there was never going to be a political appointment for him, which is why he never got further up the chain than the Nashville field division.
REST HERE: http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2011/06/serial-perjurer-waco-jim-cavanaugh.html
Say a prayer: Darrell Issa heads to Mexico this week. The man's got a yard of guts and balls of brass.
Kim Murphy of the LA Times reports:
A congressional investigation into a controversial federal gun-running surveillance operation is moving to Mexico this week amid new reports that two AK-47s sold in Arizona during the operation were found at the scene of a shootout with the suspected killers of a well-known Mexican attorney. . .
On Friday, oversight committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Vista), who has been leading the investigation of the ATF operation with Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), will travel with a bipartisan delegation to Mexico, partly in an attempt to draw the government there further into the investigation.
In a letter this week to Mexico's U.S. ambassador, Arturo Sarukhan, Issa and Grassley requested serial numbers of all firearms recovered in "substantial" violent crimes, along with the numbers of any other weapons that government officials have reason to believe may be connected to the operation.
"This information would be tremendously helpful to us in determining the full scale of the effects of Operation Fast and Furious, which includes the deaths of both Mexican and American citizens," the two lawmakers wrote. "We have a shared interest with you in getting to the bottom of this matter."
Issa will be joined by eight other U.S. lawmakers for meetings Saturday in Mexico City at the federal police command center and also with representatives of the U.S. Embassy.
I hope Congressman Issa has a large security detail with him. There are very powerful people on both sides of the border who wouldn't mind seeing him dead and are perfectly capable of arranging a cartel to do their dirty work for them.
You've got to give Issa credit. The man's got a yard of guts and balls of brass.
The Evil Empire Strikes Back. So much for DOJ assurances of non-retaliation. Vince Cefalu served with termination papers today.
“The Department of Justice will not, would never, retaliate against whistleblowers.” -- Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, testifying under oath, 15 June 2011.
Mugshot of a lying (under oath) sack of shit.Posted by Vince's friend Jay Dobyns on CleanUpATF.org.
David Codrea's take.
ATF served Special Agent Vince Cefalu with termination paperwork today.
What they have done is disguised reprisal and retaliation as something else to fire him.
What some of you may not know about Vince is that he was a United States Marine, a local police officer and U.S. Customs Agent before he came to ATF. In spite of his sometimes callous methods of expressing himself he has never failed to speak the truth, represent for what is right, fight for justice, and; doing all in the face of those who have the power to take his job of 25 years.
Vince Cefalu.
ATF has done everything within their power to break this agent. They have been proactive in the destruction of his reputation, killed his career, ruined his personal finances and have had immense negative influence on his personal relationships and family members. Why? Because he didn't go along to get along. He didn't shut his mouth when ordered to. He didn't sit back like a coward when he saw things being done wrong, unethically and illegally. Now they are proposing to take the last thing they still have control over but, have yet to act on, his job.
I will say this from personal experience; Vince will stand in the path of a bullet for any good person and do so knowing the personal consequence could be grave but, at the same time being true to his character which is to stand up for people who can't or won't stand up for themselves. I have seen him do it on more than one occasion. And, when I say "bullet" I mean a projectile, AND, all the other various means and methods of attack that could be characterized as a bullet.
I would simply ask that anyone who believes in those traits and/or those who have personally witnessed the risks he has gladly accepted to help them and help reform ATF to weigh in on his behalf.
Vince does not deserve this in any way. It is an open demonstration of the corrupt arrogance of ATF management to ignore and defend those who have committed crimes as members of the agency but in turn, to attack Cefalu. No better example of ATF's double-standards exists than what took place today.
Ken Melson, you own this one as well as your Office of Chief Counsel. Shame on you and you attorneys for engaging in the retaliation you swore to America would not take place on your watch.
Ultimately why is Vince being fired. Because he exposed corruption, blew the whistle and helped launch CleanUpATF. This is ATF's payback.
God bless Vince Cefalu in his time of trouble.
-- Jay Dobyns.
David Codrea observes: "Perhaps this will be the catalyst that will prompt Chairman Issa to begin issuing contempt citations, if not to begin the process for demanding a special prosecutor."
The ATF will say that this firing has nothing to do with the Gunwalker Scandal. That, too, I know personally, would be a lie. Folks, let your Congresscritter know that the ATF is unlawfully hammering on the agents who helped bring the Gunwalker scandal to light. DEMAND that they demand that ATF and DOJ cease and desist.
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