M E M O R A N D U M
TO: Reporters and Editors
RE: IG Report on FBI-ATF cooperation
Senator Chuck Grassley released the following statement after the final report on coordination between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was released by the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Justice.
Grassley has been asking tough questions about turf battles in the federal law enforcement community for more than a decade. He first began looking at the lack of cooperation between the FBI and ATF in 2007.
This week Grassley and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy also sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking for answers to questions that the Department of Justice had failed to answer or did not adequately answer in both the Obama and Bush administrations. One of the questions that had not been answered concerned the relationship between the FBI and ATF.
“The report released today reiterates my concerns about cooperation on serious investigations that could have national security implications between the FBI and the ATF. This childish behavior is creating problems for the safety of the agents on the ground and should not be tolerated by the Justice Department. I raised these issues with Director Mueller when he came before the Judiciary Committee a month ago and in correspondence over the last two years, but the Justice Department has failed to answer.”