Pressure is mounting against Attorney General Eric Holder to explain the controversial program called “Operation Fast and Furious” that supplied arms to drug dealers with the intention of finding the suppliers of Mexican cartels.
 
The purpose of the operation was to track the illegal sale of firearms in order to build a bigger case against Mexican criminal organizations suspected of being the ultimate buyer. However, Holder and the Department of Justice came under fire after it was discovered that the operation, which involved agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, lost track of more than 2,000 guns that have since been linked to murders. The high profile murder of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in Dec. 2010 brought more attention to the inefficiency of the operation as two guns found at the crime scene were linked to “Fast and Furious.”
Now, Holder and other Justice Department officials have been served subpoenas from congressional investigators who are asking for clear answers about what he knew about the operation and some are even calling for his resignation.
The subpoenas demand information regarding the investigation into the death of Terry as well as key communications between justice department officials. Holder says he has complied fully with the investigation and in anticipation of the subpoena, and intends to provide the investigators with all the necessary information.
"We have sent thousands of pages of documents up to the Hill," Holder told reporters Tuesday. "We will look at the subpoenas and undoubtedly comply with them, but (this) will not detract us from the important business that we have to do here at the Justice Department."
The investigation, led by Republican House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, has become contentious as GOP members see the oversight as another misstep of the Obama administration.
"We want to know what and when they knew it," Issa told Fox News. "But more importantly, we have to understand — at what level of the authorization really come? It wasn't an ATF operation. They were part of that. It was a joint operation in which DEA knew more than ATF."

(Photo: REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)