Washington (CNN) -- More than a dozen Justice Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials faced punishment Wednesday after a long-awaited report on the botched gun probe known as "Operation Fast and Furious." That probe and a previous investigation were marked by "a series of misguided strategies, tactics, errors in judgment and management failures" that allowed hundreds of weapons to reach Mexican drug cartels, the Justice Department's independent inspector general concluded. Within minutes of the report's release, Justice announced rthat former acting ATF chief Kenneth Melson was retiring and another official, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein, had resigned.
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NEW: ATF whistleblower calls botched probe "egregious"
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Inspector general's report refers 14 for discipline; 2 already out
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ATF will "get off the mat again and keep swinging," acting chief says
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Firearms traced to the probe were at the site of the killing of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry
The controversy forced @placeholder out at ATF, but he remained in another post at Justice until Wednesday.