# The DOJ Inspector General finds Operation Fast and Furious seriously flawed

Date: 2012

## The fact

In September 2012 the [Department of Justice](/organizations/department-of-justice) Office of the Inspector General issued its review of ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious, finding a seriously flawed Phoenix gun-trafficking investigation that failed to interdict firearms.

## Context

ATF Phoenix and the Arizona U.S. Attorney sat as operators. Neighbouring Holder contempt vote is neighbour congressional weather. He claimed executive privilege over some documents. He did not sit as a Phoenix group supervisor.

DACA 2012 is a neighbour DHS memo, not this ATF file. Deportations 2013 is a neighbour interior-enforcement print.

A United States president proposes, signs, vetoes, and directs the executive. Congress enacts statutes. The Federal Reserve, states, courts, and later presidents share later series. Office-holding is not authorship of every later outcome. Allegation is not a completed judgment. Legislative achievements require shared congressional attribution. He does not set the federal funds rate, write a state Medicaid waiver by himself, or convert a 2009 oath into a unique 2016 uninsured coefficient. A signature is not unique authorship of a House and Senate text. A troop order is not authorship of every later round. He is not president as of 27 August 2026. [Donald Trump](/people/mig-donald-trump) is president from 20 January 2025. [Joe Biden](/people/env-person-joe-biden) was president 2021–2025.

## Evidence and sources

U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is [institutional corruption](/drivers/institutional-corruption): a completed IG finding of a failed gun-trafficking tactic under DOJ.

## What is established and what is not

Established: September 2012 OIG review finding Fast and Furious seriously flawed, independently reported.

Not established: that the president uniquely designed the tactic, or a unique later Mexican homicide coefficient from one serial number.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

DOJ IG found the failure. [Holder](/people/eric-holder)’s department owned the agency. He owned executive-privilege weather.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies The DOJ Inspector General finds Operation Fast and Furious seriously flawed, not a later speech about The DOJ Inspector General finds Operation Fast and Furious seriously flawed.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. The DOJ Inspector General finds Operation Fast and Furious seriously flawed on 2012-09-19 is not a licence to treat every later U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average The DOJ Inspector General finds Operation Fast and Furious seriously flawed into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to ATF Phoenix ran the case. DOJ IG found the failure. Holder’s department owned the agency. He owned executive-privilege weather. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Barack Obama: https://factrail.ai/people/barack-obama

## Drivers

- Institutional Corruption: https://factrail.ai/drivers/institutional-corruption
- Judicial independence erosion (court capture): https://factrail.ai/drivers/justice-judicial-independence-erosion

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-atf-fastandfurious-idUSBRE88I1A020120919
- https://oig.justice.gov/news/testimony/statement-michael-e-horowitz-inspector-general-us-department-justice-house-committee

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/us-obama-fast-furious-2012