In a management shakeup that the justice ministry did not reveal to the media, Reuters reported that FBI Director Kash Patel was deposed and replaced by US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll as the bureau’s acting producer.
On February 24, only three days after taking over as FBI producer and acting ATF captain, Patel sworn in to lead the ATF. He had previously been dubiously holding two top positions in the Justice Department.
However, his day at ATF appears to have come to an end in late February, despite his name and image also appearing on the organization’s site as of Wednesday evening and still appearing in an established ATF media release dated April 7, according to Reuters.
A representative from the justice ministry confirmed Patel’s resignation, but he insisted that it was unrelated to the job’s performance. A regular, short-term decision was made by White House official Harrison Fields, who was cited by Reuters as saying that” Director Patel was quickly designated ATF Director while awaiting Senate verification.”
Fields continued,” Director Patel is today excelling in his position at the FBI and producing excellent results.”
Many people were caught off guard by the hiring of Army director Daniel Driscoll as the acting ATF producer. Driscoll, who is still in his latest military position, now directs the ATF while also managing the$ 87 billion Army funds and more than 450,000 combatants worldwide.
Given the long-standing US policy to preserve a strict separation between military operations and local law enforcement, the two role, according to news agency AP, is unusual.
Driscoll, 38, recently served as an assistant to Vice President JD Vance and unsuccessfully ran in a 2020 parliamentary primary in North Carolina. Even older ATF leaders were merely informed of his appointment this week, according to AP, and it was without public notice.
Career workers were shocked by Patel’s unexpected nomination as ATF chief in February. He urged employees at ATF offices to concentrate on preventing aggressive gang members, but he has often been seen since, according to current and former officials who were quoted as saying by Reuters.
The company, which is crucial in investigating weapon crimes, fire, bombings, and regulating the firearms industry, has been worried about instability due to the abrupt leadership changes.
” To see them in the situation they’re in right now is just really heartbreaking,” said Peter Forcelli, a former ATF associate director, as quoted by Reuters. ” To me, only very disrespectful is the fact that they’re getting kicked around like a football game,” Forcelli continued.
The Justice Department is currently deliberating about a possible merger of the ATF and the Drug Enforcement Administration to lower costs and strengthen police resources, a shift that could transform federal firearms and cocaine investigations across the country.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has set up a new task power, which will include the ATF and Civil Rights Division, to enforce the Second Amendment.
Gun laws that were put in place during the Biden presidency have been reversed by Bondi and US President Donald Trump. The ATF’s “zero sensitivity” policy on revoking certificates of gun sellers who commit serious crimes was removed earlier this year, a move that Patel had recently promoted in a press release.
The leading trade organization for the firearms industry, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, praised Driscoll’s session on Wednesday, saying it” signifies a commitment to reform the ATF and protect the Second Amendment right of law-abiding residents.”
