Washington ( CNN ) -- ATF Deputy Director William Hoover has resigned , just days after a congressional report on Operation Fast and Furious sharply criticized him and four other ATF officials for the botched gun-trafficking operation . Hoover officially retired from the Bureau of Alcohol , Tobacco , Firearms and Explosives on Tuesday , according to two senior ATF officials . Hoover and his boss , Ken Melson , who was acting director of the ATF at the time , were re-assigned last year in a shake-up ordered by Attorney General Eric Holder . Melson remains with the Justice Department . Timeline : Operation Fast and Furious scandal . Hoover was serving as an assistant to the new ATF deputy director when he submitted his retirement papers Monday , officials said . A report last week by Rep. Darrell Issa , R-California , and Sen. Charles Grassley , R-Iowa , laid much of the blame for the failed gun-running probe on Melson and Hoover in Washington , and three ATF officials in Arizona . A detailed investigation by the Justice inspector general is expected later this month , and Holder has vowed that he will take action , if warranted , against individuals found culpable in the investigation . The controversy over Fast and Furious erupted after two of an estimated 1,400 missing weapons lost by the ATF in Mexico , were discovered at the scene of the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry . The ATF 's planned sting operation to track weapons illegally purchased by straw purchasers bound for a Mexico drug cartel proved disastrous when ATF agents lost track of hundreds of weapons after they crossed the Mexican border . Holder and his top lieutenants have been on the defensive over the bungled operation that was mounted by one of the Justice Department 's agencies . Holder has forcefully ended the practice of allowing guns `` to walk '' in the hands of illegal purchasers with the intent of tracking weapons to cartels .
The ATF 's ATF lost track of Two of weapons in Mexico . hundreds of the missing weapons were found at the scene of a border patrol agent 's death . Operation Fast and Furious Deputy Director Hoover was among officials criticized by a congressional report . Hoover officially submitted his retirement papers this week .