Never mind the name, who authorized the MONEY? That many guns doesn't come cheap. The level of signature authority would say a lot about how far this thing went.
As I understand it, most of the money came from the FBI and DEA.
Now, I wonder how a "field-initiated program" by "low level" ATF agents managed to gain the complete cooperation of both the FBI and the DEA. And how the guy who appears to have actually been in charge, Dennis Burke, wasn't ATF at all, but a U.S. Attorney. That sounds like it would take somebody high up in the DOJ.
Not to mention the necessary cooperation of the Border Patrol and ICE -- which would take somebody high up in Homeland Security.