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In June 2011, Vince Cefalu, an ATF special agent for 24 years who in December 2010 exposed ATF's [[Project Gunrunner]] scandal, was notified of his termination. Two days before the termination, Rep. [[Darrell Issa]] (R-CA), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to the ATF warning officials not to retaliate against whistleblowers. Cefalu's dismissal followed allegations that ATF retaliates against whistleblowers. ATF spokesman Drew Wade denied that the bureau is retaliating but declined to comment about Cefalu's case.<ref name="Whistleblower">{{cite news|first=Bill|last=O'Reilly|title=ATF Whistleblower Speaks Out About Botched Gun Operation|date=June 30, 2011|url=http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/2011/07/01/atf-whistleblower-speaks-out-about-botched-gun-operation|work=Fox News|access-date=July 1, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Cefalu">{{cite news|first=Maxim|last=Lott|title='Project Gunrunner' Whistleblower Says ATF Sent Him Termination Notice|date=June 27, 2011|url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/project-gunrunner-whistleblower-says-atf-sent-him-termination-notice/|work=Fox News|access-date=July 1, 2011}}</ref>
In June 2011, Vince Cefalu, an ATF special agent for 24 years who in December 2010 exposed ATF's [[Project Gunrunner]] scandal, was notified of his termination. Two days before the termination, Rep. [[Darrell Issa]] (R-CA), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to the ATF warning officials not to retaliate against whistleblowers. Cefalu's dismissal followed allegations that ATF retaliates against whistleblowers. ATF spokesman Drew Wade denied that the bureau is retaliating but declined to comment about Cefalu's case.<ref name="Whistleblower">{{cite news|first=Bill|last=O'Reilly|title=ATF Whistleblower Speaks Out About Botched Gun Operation|date=June 30, 2011|url=http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/2011/07/01/atf-whistleblower-speaks-out-about-botched-gun-operation|work=Fox News|access-date=July 1, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Cefalu">{{cite news|first=Maxim|last=Lott|title='Project Gunrunner' Whistleblower Says ATF Sent Him Termination Notice|date=June 27, 2011|url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/project-gunrunner-whistleblower-says-atf-sent-him-termination-notice/|work=Fox News|access-date=July 1, 2011}}</ref>


In 2015, a proposal by the ATF to prohibit sales of certain 5.56 x 45mm ammunition was dropped following a negative response from the public and the legislature.<ref name="ABC News"/>
In 2015, a proposal by the ATF to prohibit sales of certain 5.56 x 45mm ammunition was dropped following a negative response from the public and the legislature.<ref name="ABC News">{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/atf-director-todd-jones-stepping-years-job/story?id=29779602|title=ATF Director B. Todd Jones Stepping Down After Nearly 4 Years on Job|website=ABC News|last1=Date|first1=Jack|last2=Levine|first2=Mike|date=March 20, 2015|url-status=live|access-date=November 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320233244/http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/atf-director-todd-jones-stepping-years-job/story?id=29779602|archive-date=March 20, 2015}}</ref>


In 2022,  the DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit which found that "thousands of firearms, firearm parts, and ammunition had been stolen from National Firearms and Ammunition Destruction (NFAD) from 2016 to 2019."<ref name="auto">{{cite web|title=Audit of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives' Firearm Disposal Practices|url=https://oig.justice.gov/reports/audit-bureau-alcohol-tobacco-firearms-and-explosives-firearm-disposal-practices}}</ref> The NFAD is the branch of the ATF uses to dispose of firearms forfeited to the ATF. The report also stated that the ATF has improved its process to reduce thefts but that it still has not implemented all of the recommendations made by the DOJ.<ref name="auto"/>
In 2022,  the DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit which found that "thousands of firearms, firearm parts, and ammunition had been stolen from National Firearms and Ammunition Destruction (NFAD) from 2016 to 2019."<ref name="auto">{{cite web|title=Audit of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives' Firearm Disposal Practices|url=https://oig.justice.gov/reports/audit-bureau-alcohol-tobacco-firearms-and-explosives-firearm-disposal-practices}}</ref> The NFAD is the branch of the ATF uses to dispose of firearms forfeited to the ATF. The report also stated that the ATF has improved its process to reduce thefts but that it still has not implemented all of the recommendations made by the DOJ.<ref name="auto"/>
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The ATF is organized as follows:<ref>{{cite web|title=Organization Structure {{!}} Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives|url=https://www.atf.gov/about/organization-structure|website=ATF|access-date=October 8, 2016}}</ref>
The ATF is organized as follows:<ref>{{cite web|title=Organization Structure {{!}} Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives|url=https://www.atf.gov/about/organization-structure|website=ATF|access-date=October 8, 2016}}</ref>
* Director
* Director
Chief of Staff
* Chief of Staff
Chief Counsel
* Chief Counsel
* Deputy Director (Chief Operating Officer)
* Deputy Director (Chief Operating Officer)
Office of Field Operations
* Office of Field Operations
Office of Human Resources and Professional Development
* Office of Human Resources and Professional Development
Office of Management
* Office of Management
Office of Enforcement Programs and Services
* Office of Enforcement Programs and Services
Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations
* Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations
Office of Public and Governmental Affairs
* Office of Public and Governmental Affairs
Office of Science and Technology
* Office of Science and Technology
Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information
* Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information
 
===Field divisions===
===Field divisions===
The ATF has 26 field divisions across the nation in major cities. Those cities are: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Columbus (OH), Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City (MO), Los Angeles, Louisville, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Paul, Tampa, and Washington, D.C. Also, there are field offices in different countries such as Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia, Iraq, Lithuania, and in the Caribbean.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.atf.gov/contact/atf-field-divisions|title=ATF Field Divisions|work=ATF|access-date=December 26, 2018}}</ref>
The ATF has 26 field divisions across the nation in major cities. Those cities are: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Columbus (OH), Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City (MO), Los Angeles, Louisville, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Paul, Tampa, and Washington, D.C. Also, there are field offices in different countries such as Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia, Iraq, Lithuania, and in the Caribbean.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.atf.gov/contact/atf-field-divisions|title=ATF Field Divisions|work=ATF|access-date=December 26, 2018}}</ref>


==Regulation of firearms==
==Regulation of firearms==
[[File:ATF investigators display weapons seized.jpg|thumb|240px|ATF investigators display weapons seized for violations of the [[Gun Control Act]].]]
ATF is responsible for regulating [[firearm]] commerce in the United States. The bureau issues [[Federal Firearms License]]s (FFL) to sellers and conducts firearms licensee inspections. The bureau is also involved in programs aimed at reducing [[gun violence in the United States]], by targeting and arresting violent offenders who unlawfully possess firearms. ATF was also involved with the [[Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative]], which expanded tracing of firearms recovered by law enforcement and the ongoing Comprehensive Crime Gun Tracing Initiative.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atf.gov/publications/general/snapshots/atf-snapshot-2006.html|title=ATF Snapshot (2006)|publisher=Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091203000711/http://www.atf.gov/publications/general/snapshots/atf-snapshot-2006.html|archive-date=December 3, 2009}}</ref> ATF also provides support to state and local investigators through the [[National Integrated Ballistic Information Network]] (NIBIN) program.
ATF is responsible for regulating [[firearm]] commerce in the United States. The bureau issues [[Federal Firearms License]]s (FFL) to sellers and conducts firearms licensee inspections. The bureau is also involved in programs aimed at reducing [[gun violence in the United States]], by targeting and arresting violent offenders who unlawfully possess firearms. ATF was also involved with the [[Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative]], which expanded tracing of firearms recovered by law enforcement and the ongoing Comprehensive Crime Gun Tracing Initiative.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atf.gov/publications/general/snapshots/atf-snapshot-2006.html|title=ATF Snapshot (2006)|publisher=Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091203000711/http://www.atf.gov/publications/general/snapshots/atf-snapshot-2006.html|archive-date=December 3, 2009}}</ref> ATF also provides support to state and local investigators through the [[National Integrated Ballistic Information Network]] (NIBIN) program.


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ATF currently trains the U.S. military in evidence recovery procedures after a bombing. All ATF Agents are trained in post-blast investigation; however ATF maintains a cadre of approximately 150 highly trained explosive experts known as Certified Explosives Specialists (CES). ATF/CES Agents are trained as experts regarding Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's), as well as commercial explosives. ATF Agents work closely with state and local Bomb Disposal Units (bomb squads) within the United States.
ATF currently trains the U.S. military in evidence recovery procedures after a bombing. All ATF Agents are trained in post-blast investigation; however ATF maintains a cadre of approximately 150 highly trained explosive experts known as Certified Explosives Specialists (CES). ATF/CES Agents are trained as experts regarding Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's), as well as commercial explosives. ATF Agents work closely with state and local Bomb Disposal Units (bomb squads) within the United States.
==Directors==
A list of ATF directors since becoming a Bureau on July 1, 1972:{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}
* 1970–1978: [[Rex D. Davis]] (b. 1924 – d. 2008)<ref name=Holley2008/> (Prior to the establishment of ATF as an independent bureau within the Treasury Department in 1972, from 1970 to 1972, Davis headed its predecessor, the ATF division of the IRS, and oversaw its transition to an independent bureau.)
* 1979–1982: G. R. Dickerson
* 1982–1993: [[Stephen Higgins]] (b. 1938)
* 1993–1999: [[John Magaw]] (b. 1935)
* 1999–2004: [[Bradley A. Buckles]] (b. 1949)
* 2004: [[Edgar A. Domenech]] (1st time—acting)
* 2004–2006: [[Carl Truscott]] (b. 1957)
* 2006: [[Edgar A. Domenech]] (2nd time—acting)
* September 2006 – January 20, 2009: [[Michael Sullivan (U.S. Attorney)|Michael Sullivan]] (acting) (b. 1954)
* January 20, 2009 - April 8, 2009: [[Ronald "Ronnie" A. Carter]] (acting)
*  April 8, 2009 – August 30, 2011: [[Kenneth E. Melson]] (acting) (b. ~ 1948)
* August 31, 2011 – March 31, 2015: [[B. Todd Jones]]<ref name="ABC News">{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/atf-director-todd-jones-stepping-years-job/story?id=29779602|title=ATF Director B. Todd Jones Stepping Down After Nearly 4 Years on Job|website=ABC News|last1=Date|first1=Jack|last2=Levine|first2=Mike|date=March 20, 2015|url-status=live|access-date=November 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320233244/http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/atf-director-todd-jones-stepping-years-job/story?id=29779602|archive-date=March 20, 2015}}</ref> (acting August 31, 2011 – July 31, 2013; b. 1957)
* April 1, 2015 – April 30, 2019: Thomas&nbsp;Brandon (ATF Deputy Director, Acting Director)<ref name="ABC News"/><ref name=Lombardo>{{cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-appoints-regina-lombardo-acting-deputy-director-bureau-alcohol-tobacco|title=Attorney General Appoints Regina Lombardo Acting Deputy Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives|publisher=Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice|date=April 24, 2019|access-date=June 10, 2019}}</ref>
* May 1, 2019 – June 3, 2021: [[Regina Lombardo]] (ATF Deputy Director, Acting Director)<ref name=Lombardo />
* June 4, 2021 – April 25, 2022: Marvin Richardson (ATF Deputy Director, Acting Director)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Executive Staff {{!}} Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives|url=https://www.atf.gov/about-atf/executive-staff|access-date=September 10, 2021|website=www.atf.gov}}</ref>
* April 25, 2022 – July 13, 2022: [[Gary M. Restaino]] (U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, Acting Director)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Executive Staff {{!}} Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives|url=https://www.atf.gov/about-atf/executive-staff|access-date=June 18, 2022|website=www.atf.gov}}</ref>
* July 13, 2022–Present: [[Steve Dettelbach]] (b. 1965) <ref>{{cite tweet|user=ATFHQ|number=1547335217786109952|title=ATF welcomes our newly confirmed Director Steven Dettelbach}}</ref>
==Criticism==
Some media outlets have criticized the ATF, even going so far as to call for the abolition of the agency. One such criticism leveled by ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'' magazine's J.D. Tuccille stated, "The nicest thing you can say about the ATF is that it's an unserious and unaccountable bureaucracy. Often it's explicitly contemptible, such as during the [[ATF gunwalking scandal|Fast-and-Furious gun-walking scandal]],<ref name="Reason, Riggs, Sep. 30th, 2011">{{cite web|last1=Riggs|first1=Mike|title=Operation Fast and Furious Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg|url=https://reason.com/2011/09/30/operation-fast-and-furious-is/|website=reason.com|date=September 30, 2011|publisher=Reason|access-date=1 November 2022}}</ref> and its setting up mentally disabled youths to take the fall during gun-and-drug stings.<ref name="Reason, Gillespie, Dec. 9th, 2013">{{cite web|last1=Gillespie|first1=Nick|title=Unbelievable: ATF Using Mentally Disabled Teens to Run Drug-and-Gun Stings|url=https://reason.com/2013/12/09/unbelievable-atf-using-mentally-disabled/|website=reason.com|date=December 9, 2013|publisher=Reason|access-date=1 November 2022}}</ref> After those abuses of individual rights and public trust, the failings of the National Disposal Branch almost pale by comparison ... the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives should be abolished, and its employees sent into the world to seek honest jobs in the private sector, if anybody will have them."<ref name="Reason, Tuccille, Oct. 31st, 2022">{{cite web|last1=Tuccille|first1=J.D.|title=ATF, Enforcer of Gun Laws, Lost 'Thousands of Firearms, Firearm Parts' to Thieves|url=https://reason.com/2022/10/31/atf-enforcer-of-gun-laws-lost-thousands-of-firearms-firearm-parts-to-thieves/|website=reason.com|date=October 31, 2022|publisher=Reason|access-date=November 1, 2022}}</ref>
Tuccille's primary reason for the complaint related to the mishandling of information and even security of firearms that led to the theft and sale of thousands of confiscated firearms by ATF personnel to private parties. Tuccille argued that if even a fraction of said activity had occurred at a gun store instead, the store would have promptly and swiftly been shut down by the ATF, but that the ATF is not held to the same standards that they hold FFL's, "You have to wonder what the ATF would say about a private facility that was ripped off for years on end by its own staffers and still failed to implement serious security measures after the fact. I expect that the consequences would be a bit more serious than a single arrest and then business as usual despite a tut-tutting reprimand."<ref name="Reason, Tuccille, Oct. 31st, 2022" />
The ATF has also received criticism involving financial corruption. In 2021, a whistleblower informed the public that the ATF was giving a 25% monetary bonus to at least 94 of its employees.<ref name="auto2">{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/whistleblower-atf-bonuses-allege-fraud-waste-abuse/|title=Whistleblower claims Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives personnel were improperly paid bonuses reserved for criminal investigators|website=[[CBS News]] |date=October 5, 2021}}</ref> The benefit is known as law enforcement availability pay, or LEAP, that was only reserved for "criminal investigators" who are on call and expected to work unscheduled, additional hours.<ref name="auto2"/> It was noted by the whistleblower that administrative officials were receiving this benefit, despite not being classified as criminal investigators.<ref name="auto2"/>


==See also==
==See also==
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