By Hunter Walker, TPM Muckraker, May 20, 2013

In a scathing new report Monday, the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General accused onetime Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis K. Burke of leaking confidential documents to a reporter in a politically-motivated attempt to “undermine” a whistleblower who helped spark the investigation into the “Fast and Furious” operation.

Burke, a former aide to Janet Napolitano while she was Arizona governor and then secretary of Homeland Security, was appointed as U.S. attorney by President Obama in 2009. He resigned as he was initially being questioned about the leak in 2011.

The Inspector General report described Burke’s conduct as “wholly unbefitting a U.S. Attorney” and referred the case for for possible disciplinary proceedings by the state bar in Arizona. The inspector general found it particularly egregious that Burke’s alleged leak came shortly after he was reprimanded for another leak, to the New York Times, involving the controversial Fast And Furious operation.

Fast and Furious was an ATF investigation conducted between 2009 and 2011 [....]

Burke was the U.S. Attorney who was responsible for overseeing Fast and Furious and the Inspector General’s report indicates he had a strong, personal reaction to the ensuing negative coverage of the operation. According to the Inspector General’s report, Burke made multiple leaks designed to inspire more positive coverage [....]

Also see:

Ex-U.S. Attorney in Arizona Is Criticized for Leak to Fox
By Charlie Savage, New York Times, May 20/21, 2013

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s independent inspector general on Monday criticized a former top federal prosecutor in Arizona, Dennis K. Burke, for leaking to Fox News a document in June 2011 about a federal agent who was raising alarms about the gun trafficking investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious. He called the prosecutor’s actions “particularly egregious” misconduct that was “wholly unbefitting a U.S. attorney.” [......]