Trump Puts Army Secretary In Charge At ATF, Removes Patel

The Trump administration replaced FBI Director Kash Patel as the interim head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, the Washington Post reports. The small law enforcement entity of 5,000 employees is favored by Democrats as critical to combating gun violence and accused by Republicans of overregulating firearms. ATF works with local law enforcement to solve gun crimes and regulates the sales and licensing of firearms under federal law.

Since being tapped as the interim ATF director in February, Patel has been a largely absent leader and only appeared at the agency’s headquarters once. President Trump has not nominated a permanent director and has not indicated whether he will. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has proposed merging ATF with the Drug Enforcement Administration. Patel said last month that he would pull 150 ATF agents from their typical duties and deploy them to work on border-related duties. As Army secretary, Driscoll shapes policies for the military’s largest service, with more than 400,000 active-duty soldiers, including personnel and recruitment.

The Senate confirmed Driscoll in February.