Source: U.S. to allow ATF agent to write 'Fast and Furious' book, not profit from it

cnn ^ | 10/16/13 | Evan Perez

[Nachum]

Washington (CNN) -- A federal agent will be allowed to write a book with an insider's account of Operation Fast and Furious, reversing an earlier government attempt to block publication for "morale" reasons. However, John Dodson, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, won't be allowed to make money on the book.

A U.S. law enforcement official familiar with the matter says the Justice Department, ATF and the Federal Bureau of Investigation will review Dodson's manuscript and, after making redactions to protect sensitive law enforcement information, will clear it for publication. However, federal employee guidelines prohibit Dodson and other active agents from making a profit from their work in law enforcement, the official said.

Dodson was among several agents who claimed whistle-blower status to provide information to Congress about the controversial Fast and Furious operation. The operation run by ATF agents in Phoenix allowed suspected smugglers to buy about 2,000 firearms in 2009-10. Their plan was to use the gun sales to try to prosecute major arms traffickers. However, agents had no way to track the weapons, and hundreds wound up in the hands of drug cartels. Two Fast and Furious guns were recovered at the scene of a border agent's slaying in 2010 near the Mexican border, although it isn't clear whether they were used to kill him.

[Nachum]

The list, Ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

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[UnwashedPeasant]

Can you imagine Nixon trying something like this and getting away with it?

[Timber Rattler]

Look for the whole manuscript to be redacted for “Sensitive Law Enforcement Information,” which is a new, wholly illegal, type of restriction that LEOs have been trying to get away with lately.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Well, let’s see. It has taken the former agent 3 years to write it, a lot of money for attorneys to deal with the government bureauocracy for permission to publish it, travel expenses to promote it, & living expenses during this whole period. Deduct all that from any money earned from it, and the remainder would be “profit”. In my mind, this book should support this man and his family for about 5 years, but that’s just how I see it.

[Paladin2]

The guy needs to rewrite it as a novel first, then later release the non-fiction version.

[KeyLargo]

ATF Manual Threatens Agents With Firing Squad For Leaking Secrets

The slide that appears in an ATF training manual telling agents, they will be disciplined by firing squad if they leak agency secrets.

Via Washington Times:

After months of anguished debate over mass shootings, gun control and Second Amendment rights, the Justice Department finds itself on the defensive after a training manual surfaced that suggests federal agents could face a firing squad for leaking government secrets.

The online manual for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — complete with a photo of a turn-of-the-century firing squad — was obtained by The Washington Times from a concerned federal law enforcement official, and it immediately drew protests from watchdogs who said it showed a lack of sensitivity to gun violence and the continuing hostile environment toward whistleblowers.

Stephen Kohn, executive director of the National Whistleblower Center, said the DOJ has forgotten about the protections of the First Amendment, which covers leaks to the media, and that the photo could scare its employees into self-censorship.

The photo “would have a chilling affect on legitimate speech. And some of the rhetoric used against whistleblowers could be construed as inciting to violence because they’ve turned up the rhetoric,” Mr. Kohn said

http://weaselzippers.us/

[Glenmore]

I seem to recall that articles submitted by government employees to professional journals, and government agency technicqal reports are not copyrighted; that logic would suggest a book written by an ATF employee would not be copyrighted - might make it hard to find a publisher.

[Kit cat]

He needs to go to Beck’s publishing company, I bet my life HE will publish
the book!!!

[Hotlanta Mike]

DOes that mean Obama has to give back his sizable advance and forgo any royalties for writing his memoirs?

[freekitty]

Probably won’t be worth the paper it’s written on.

[JoeFromSidney]

I seem to recall that articles submitted by government employees to professional journals, and government agency technicqal reports are not copyrighted;

I can't speak about books, but all the articles I submitted to technical journals while I was on active duty were copyrighted by the journal publisher, not by me. I retained the rights to re-use the material in them, but the publisher held the copyright.

[PuzzledInTX]

Allowed? What alternate reality have I awaken into? One with no First Amendment rights apparently.