ATF figure in Fast and Furious leaves agency

(AP) ATF figure in Fast and Furious leaves agency
By PETE YOST
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
The former deputy director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has left the agency following the uproar over a flawed gun-smuggling probe called Operation Fast and Furious.

William Hoover was the agency’s No. 2 official from 2009 to 2011. He was reassigned last October during an ATF staff shake-up prompted by questions about Fast and Furious.

ATF spokesman Drew Wade said Hoover’s last day was Tuesday.

A Republican draft report on Operation Fast and Furious by Rep. Darrell Issa of California and Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa says Hoover and four other ATF officials share much of the blame for problems in the Arizona gun-smuggling probe. It employed a risky tactic called gun-walking. Some 1,400 illicitly purchased weapons identified by the operation have not been recovered.