This is a BFD, and the FBI being silent on it really shows how big it is.
As per Fast and Furious, these were known illegal straw purchases some of which were purchased by known felons, which is also illegal.
To get the authorization for the BATF to overrule the background checks and approve straw purchases of large volume gun sales to known felons with the intent of trafficking them across international borders to a country in the middle of a violent drug war would have required knowledge and the formal sign off of very high level people in the White house, the Dept of Justice Legal, BATF and FBI agencies.
It would have also needed the sign off of the Dept of Homeland Security and the State Department given that the intent of the program was traffic illegally sold arms across international borders and should have been coordinated with Mexico's Dept of State and Law Enforcement
Several American LEO's and over 150 Mexican LEOs, Politicians and civilians have been murdered with weapons provided by the Fast and Furious operation, some of which actually paid for by the US Government with Economic Stimulus money.
As VP Biden would say, this is indeed a "Big ****ing Deal"