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Grassley, Ernst Demand Answers and Action in Alleged ATF ‘Waste, Fraud, Abuse’

(Image from licensed Shutterstock account).

U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, both Iowa Republicans, are leveling serious allegations about “gross and substantial waste, fraud and abuse, as well as potentially criminal false certification of government records and whistleblower retaliation” by two senior officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and they are demanding “immediate corrective action.”

In a Monday, May 12 statement, the two Hawkeye State senators leveled their allegations against ATF Senior Executive Lisa Boykin and Justice Management Division (JMD) Acting Deputy Director of Human Resources (HR) Ralph Bittelari.

In a 5 ½-page letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Acting ATF Director Daniel Driscoll and Assistant Attorney General Jolene Ann Lauria, who heads the Justice Department’s Administration Justice Management Division, Grassley and Ernst detail their allegations. Recalling their earlier letters to the Biden administration in January and September 2024—in which they complained about ATF’s allegedly “illegal scheme to misclassify human resources (HR) and other administrative positions as law enforcement, which was substantiated by the Office of Special Counsel”—now the senators want action under the new administration.

“In our previous letters,” Grassley and Ernst wrote May 9, “we requested the agencies provide us with the ATF Internal Affairs Division (IAD) report and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Human Capital Management Evaluation (HCME) audit report. Whistleblowers informed us that these reports extensively detailed ATF leadership’s involvement in the illegal misclassification scheme even after being notified about the misconduct and OPM suspended ATF’s classification authority after completing their audit. We also asked whether the Biden DOJ held ATF leadership accountable for allowing the illegal misclassification scheme to continue after becoming aware of it and for retaliating against whistleblowers. Despite the Biden ATF and DOJ stonewalling our efforts by failing to respond, our offices obtained copies of these reports via legally protected whistleblower disclosures. That is why we are writing to you today to bring this situation to your attention. As this letter will explain, we strongly believe the information contained in these reports and the other records we’ve made public are alarming and necessitate immediate corrective action.”

In his joint press release with Ernst, Sen. Grassley stated, “The Biden administration’s ATF illegally lined employees’ pockets with tens-of-millions of taxpayer dollars. These Washington bureaucrats must answer for their misconduct, and if heads don’t roll, nothing will change. Without the continued persistence of brave whistleblowers, ATF’s illegal scheme would’ve likely continued. As always, sunshine is the best disinfectant. Attorney General Pam Bondi should take strong action to hold these Biden-era pencil pushers accountable and end the fraudulent waste at ATF.”

Earlier this year, Republican Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and Congressman Eric Burlison of Missouri, introduced H.R. 129, known as the “Abolish the ATF Act.” The legislation is co-sponsored by Reps. Andy Biggs (AZ-05), Mike Collins (GA-10), Bob Onder (MO-03), Andy Ogles (TN-05), Mary Miller (IL-15), Keith Self (TX-03), and Paul Gosar (AZ-09). It was assigned to the House Judiciary Committee.

“The IAD report was completed on January 5, 2024,” the Grassley-Ernst letter notes, “and it highlights considerable evidence of gross waste, fraud, and abuse; substantial misconduct and mismanagement; abuse of power; and potential criminal misconduct…”

Later in their letter, Grassley and Ernst refer to an audit report from the Office of Personnel Management which, they say, “highlighted that the ATF’s illegal misclassification scheme hampered the agency’s ability to carry out its law enforcement mission.”

The letter goes on to assert, “the OPM audit found that roughly one third of all employees assigned to ATF HRPD, about a 100, were ATF law enforcement officers. Meaning, the ATF relocated a hundred of its law enforcement officers from protecting our communities from ‘violent criminals, criminal organizations, the illegal use and trafficking of firearms, the illegal use and storage of explosives, acts of arson and bombings, acts of terrorism, and the illegal diversion of alcohol and tobacco products,’ to administrative positions in ATF HQ, all while unlawfully paying them enhanced law enforcement benefits at the expense of taxpayers.”

“OPM estimated that ATF’s illegal scheme cost taxpayers around $20 million during the five-year period they reviewed, a number the whistleblowers say is substantially understated,” the senators wrote.

During his long career on Capitol Hill, which included a probe into “Operation Fast and Furious,” the Obama administration scandal which involved ATF’s “gun walking” scheme that allowed more than 2,000 guns to be illegally trafficked into Mexico, and ended only when Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in a gun battle in which two of the guns were recovered at the crime scene in December 2010.

Sen. Grassley built a reputation for doggedly pursuing government waste. Sen. Ernst appears to be following in his footsteps. In their letter to Bondi, Driscoll and Lauria, the senators assert whistleblowers have been “subjected to retaliation by being demoted, not returned to their prior position and have faced repeated attempts by ATF and JMD management to discredit their reputations and ruin their careers.”

They have asked Bondi and her colleagues to respond “No later than May 23.” They also want to know “the strategy the Justice Department will take in addressing the issues raised in this letter, as well as answers to our January 30, 2024 and September 23, 2024 letters.”

The ATF has been under political fire for several years, and during the Biden administration, there were complaints that the agency had been “weaponized” against firearms retailers and individual gun collectors and owners—especially participants in gun shows—while dangerous criminal activity was overlooked. Perhaps now, under intense scrutiny, action may at last be forthcoming.

About Dave Workman

Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.