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BY JUSTIN WHALEY

ANCHOR JOSH FRYDMAN

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A federal gunrunning sting was a hot topic on Capitol Hill Tuesday-- as lawmakers tried to figure out why federal agents can’t account for more than 1,000 weapons sold to suspected smugglers.

According to a congressional report released ahead of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ hearing in the House Oversight committee-- Operation Fast and Furious backfired.

“Documents indicate intentions were good. The idea was to ‘allow the transfer of firearms’ to pinpoint big cartel crooks rather than the small-time traffickers supplying them. ‘They want to change the dynamic and truly go after the kingpen. So give the kingpen something that they can’t resist. This flow of weapons over 15 months. And then track them, find them and take them down.’” (CBS)

Instead, guns found their way to the hands of Mexican cartel leaders, causing a slew of attacks and traces of American guns at Mexican crime scenes. The catch -- the operation was so under-the-radar that not even some ATF officials knew about it. The Hill says --

“Earlier this month, ATF acting director Kenneth Melson told the committee in a closed-door interview that neither he nor acting-deputy director Billy Hoover knew about the operation ahead of its public revelation earlier this year...”

And Politico adds-- U.S. officials in Mexico tried to stop the program, reporting they...

“...tried to warn their bosses in Phoenix and Washington ... But their warnings were not heeded until late 2010, after U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in the Arizona desert in December and two AK-47 semi-automatic rifles sold by Fast and Furious were recovered at the crime scene.”

According to CNN, the operation not only heightened drug trafficking, but stung the ATF’s reputation --

“The result has been a major black eye for the agency and put the future of its acting director, Kenneth Melson, under a cloud...”

The Houston Chronicle created this interactive map depicting what it calls quote -- “the ill-fated and highly controversial Operation Fast and Furious”. The map gives facts about past and present drug trades, where weapons ended up and about how many are in each location in Mexico and along the border.

President Obama and Attny. Gen. Holder have condemned the ATF program, and further investigations are in progress to find which higher-ups knew about the operation.

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