Most of us think that Fast and Furious is a series of action-packed movies full of danger, drama, and fast cars. There’s another Fast and Furious out there, though, and most people had no idea it was happening until federal agent John Dodson exposed the secret federal case that enabled thousands of weapons to get across the Mexican border and get into the hands of Mexico’s powerful drug cartels.
Dodson initially spoke about the Fast and Furious operation in an interview, saying that he was told to stand by and watch as guns crossed the border from the United States into Mexico, even though he understood his job to be to prevent illegal firearms trafficking to Mexican drug cartels. Dodson objected to the practice but was ordered to keep doing what he had been asked to do. Federal agents not only matched the guns come and go, but they also tracked their use in criminal activity on either side of the border. The goal was supposed to find out where all of the guns were going and then use that information to take down the cartels in dramatic fashion. That part never happened.
Unfortunately, one of the guns was used in the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, in 2010. When Agent Terry got killed, the agency worked hard to cover up the link between the weapon used to kill Terry and the strategy that they had been using in the border region. The United States Department of Justice even wrote a letter denying that there was any connection between Agent Terry’s death and the Fast and Furious case. Terry’s death was one of approximately forty-three known deaths associated with weapons trafficked during the Fast and Furious case and other secret operations.
Six years after Dodson initially exposed the scheme in an interview, he says that he has become an enemy of the state. He’s been transferred through eleven different assignments within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) where he worked before the Fast and Furious operation and continues to work today. Dodson says that he has experienced marginalization and retaliation, in addition to the constant upheaval caused by the frequent transfers.
Barrett Law PLLC: Providing Solid Defense Strategies for Mississippi Whistleblowers
Whistleblowers often experience retaliation in a variety of ways, including reassignment, harassment, humiliation, and threats of harm. Some forms of retaliation are subtler than others are, and sometimes it can take a while for an employee to realize that a pattern is emerging within their workplace environment that does not feel right. For that very reason, it is absolutely imperative that you talk with a whistleblower attorney about your experience so that you can pursue a claim for damages if the things that you have experienced do indeed add up to retaliation. To learn more about whistleblower laws and whistleblower protection claims, call the Mississippi Whistleblower Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC today at 1 (800) 707-9577 to set up an initial consultation.
