What they're talking about is something called 'Wide Receiver'. CBS reporter Sheryl Aktinson is one of the few dinosaur media reporters even covering Fast and Furious, and alleged that Wide Receiver also had some of the same 'Gunrunner'aspectd Fast and Furious did.
Well it did, and it mostly didn't. Jim Shepherd in The Outdoor Wire reveals just how different the admittedly botched Wide Receiver was from Fast and Furious:
In Operation Wide Receiver, Tucson agents allowed the sales of more than 500 firearms to known straw purchasers. Like Gunrunner/Fast and Furious, the operation apparently backfired.
Some firearms in Wide Receiver were equipped with RFID tracking devices. In Wide Receiver, it seems the illegal purchasers seemed more than slightly knowledgeable of the ATF and how to take their aerial and electronic tracking procedures down.
Knowing the time aloft numbers for virtually all planes used in government surveillance, the buyers had a simple method of getting their purchases across the border undetected. They simply drove four-hour loops around the area.
As surveillance planes were forced to return to base for refueling, the smugglers simply turned and sprinted their cargo across the border.
The RFID tags also turned out to be problematic.
Rather than making large enough holes for the tags to be laid out inside weapons, agents force-fit them into the rifles.
That cramming caused the antennae to be folded, reducing the effective range of the tags. And an already short battery life (36-48 hours maximum) meant that should purchasers allow the firearms to sit, the tracking devices eliminated themselves.
Let's summarize the differences, shall we? Wide Receiver actually made an attempt at surveillance, but was stymied by equipment problems and the resourcefulness of the cartels.
In addition, Wide Receiver was conducted in cooperation with the Mexican government - not kept secret from them as Fast and Furious was.
Fast and Furious made no use of tracking devices, prevented local law enforcement from interfering with the smugglers, on multiple occasions, and federal agents were not allowed to stop the flow of weapons. The whole idea behind Wide Receiver was to nab the smugglers and cut off the traffic.
Wide Receiver allowed something like 450 guns into Mexico before the Bush Administration and the Mexican authorities realized it had failed. Fast and Furious allowed over 2,000 weapons into the hands of the cartels without any intention of arresting the straw buyers and smugglers. And this might just be the tip of the iceberg. CBS News’ Attkisson mentions allegations of “at least 10 cities in five other [Mexican] states”, which means that Holder’s Department of Justice may have intentionally sent more than 12,000 weapons into the hands of the cartels.
Of course, the most important difference, aside from the death toll is that Holder and the DOJ already knew that Wide Receiver had been a failure.They had the advantage of hindsight and went ahead and did this anyway.
And that, frankly, amounts to criminal negligence.As opposed to a botched law enforcement program.
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