Statement of William D. Newell on 'Fast and Furious'

William D. Newell, Former Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix Field Division ATF, July 2011.

As I stated in my opening statement at the hearing, throughout the course of this investigation we attempted to be innovative in tracking and seizing firearms purchased by the suspected "straw" buyers while simultaneousley being engaged in a strategic effort to identify the decision makers, the financiers and an ever expanding network of "straw" purchasers of the firearms in order to ultimately disrupt the entire criminal organization.

To be clear, any errors were unintentional errors of omission and are rooted in the laws we have at our disposal in attempting to address this type of illegal activity, the inherent risk posed by the natur of this investigations and the rapid progression of this investigation, which I attempt to summarize below.