Two years ago, federal agent John Dodson turned whistleblower and exposed a botched gun operation in Phoenix that led to senior-level resignations, 18 months of congressional investigations and the first vote in history by the House to hold a sitting attorney general in contempt of Congress. Now, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, where Dodson works, is preventing him from publishing a book about the failed gun investigation, dubbed Fast and Furious," because the agency says it would hurt morale at the agency. The American Civil Liberties Union came to Dodson's defense [on October 7] and filed a protest with the ATF, strongly objecting to the agency's efforts to block Dodson from publishing his book, which has been written, saying the decision violates his "constitutional protections." Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), two persistent critics of the ATF, wrote a foreword for the book. "This isn't the first time somebody from the ATF or another government agency has written a book," Grassley said. "Just because the ATF leadership doesn't like the content of the book doesn't mean they should be able to prevent the author from giving his side of the story." During the gun-trafficking operation run by Phoenix special agents between late 2009 and early 2011, the ATF lost track of more than 2,000 guns that investigators were monitoring as they were sold to traffickers suspected of arming Mexican drug cartels. The operation to link guns to a cartel fell apart after two of the guns being tracked were found at the scene of a shootout that killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.