CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb
By Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Nine days after his resignation was called for by a leading national gun rights organization, B. Todd Jones announced he is stepping down as director of the embattled Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Jones’ resignation is effective March 31, according to the announcement posted on the ATF’s website. The agency took a lot of heat from angry gun owners earlier in March over the recent proposal to ban a popular type of ammunition for modern sport-utility rifles known as the M855.
Jones, who is departing March 31, was appointed director of the scandal-plagued agency in 2013. On March 11, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms called for his resignation or dismissal in the wake of a major debacle over a proposal to ban a popular type of ammunition for .223-caliber modern sporting rifles.
CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, who had expressed clear disappointment in Jones’ performance, culminating in the “colossal blunder” of the proposed ammunition ban, told TGM that he is not confident the departure will change things at the embattled agency.
“This gives ATF another chance to clean up its act,” Gottlieb said, reacting to Jones’ announcement. “However, based on their past behavior, I still don’t have confidence that they will now suddenly improve their performance. That remains to be seen, and Congress needs to keep the agency on a tight leash.”
While Jones’ announced departure was probably coincidental to CCRKBA’s March 11 call for his resignation, the timing was remarkable.
Jones became acting director of the agency in August 2011 at the height of the Fast and Furious scandal. A series of hearings before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform revealed a horribly mismanaged operation resulting in the trafficking of an estimated 2,000 guns to Mexican criminal elements.
The Oversight Committee had to sue Attorney General Eric Holder over documents he withheld from the investigation. Those documents were protected by President Barack Obama’s declaration of executive privilege, but a judge ultimately ordered the Justice Department to provide Judicial Watch – which had filed its own Freedom of Information Act lawsuit – a list of Fast and Furious documents, which is called a “Vaughn Index.”
Perhaps the most significant fallout from that investigation was that Holder, the first African-American attorney general in the nation’s history, became the first attorney general ever held in contempt of Congress for his refusal to turn over the thousands of documents sought by the committee.
When Jones succeeded Acting Director Ken Melson in August 2011, there were hopes that he would punish those responsible for Fast and Furious. But that never happened. Some people retired or resigned, others were reassigned. And there were other problems on Jones’ watch.
Most notable of those troubles was the Operation Fearless scandal in Milwaukee that was exposed by the Journal-Sentinel newspaper. That operation resulted in what the newspaper called “a string of mistakes and failures, including an ATF military-style machine gun landing on the streets of Milwaukee and the agency having $35,000 in merchandise stolen from its store…”
The newspaper found similar operations had run in other cities, including Portland, Ore. The newspaper investigation exposed what many considered “rogue conduct” and last year, Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner introduced legislation to dissolve ATF.
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UPDATE: Attorney General Eric Holder issued the following statement on the departure of B. Todd Jones:
“Throughout his tenure as Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Todd Jones has cemented his reputation as an exemplary leader, a consummate professional, and an outstanding public servant. Since 2011, when I asked Todd to serve as Acting Director of ATF, he has made bold changes, advanced forward-looking policies, and taken innovative steps to strengthen ATF’s investigative capabilities—including ballistic imaging technology that recently played a critical role in the investigation of the shooting of two police officers. With his guidance, ATF has implemented its Frontline business model—a data-driven approach designed to ensure the agency can focus its resources to achieve maximum impact. The agency has developed groundbreaking law enforcement initiatives across the country to combat violent crime and bring dangerous criminals to justice. And as a result of Todd’s leadership, ATF has built a proactive, creative, and effective team that is well-prepared to drive the agency into the future.
“As a former officer in the United States Marine Corps, a highly talented prosecutor, and a proven leader who has been named a U.S. Attorney by two different presidents, Todd Jones has never hesitated to answer the call to serve his community and his country with exceptional integrity and uncommon distinction. As the first ever Senate-confirmed Director of ATF, his indelible legacy will serve as an inspiring example for all those who follow him. On behalf of the Department of Justice, I thank him for his extraordinary service and wish him all the best as he takes the next steps in his already remarkable career.”
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TGM had heard rumors that Jones’ departure was in the works days before his announcement. Chris Chiafullo, national coordinating counsel for FFL Guard, described as “the Gold Standard in Legal Services and Compliance Solutions” serving more than 500 licensed firearms dealers, blogged about an unconfirmed rumor that Jones was leaving. In a telephone conversation with Chiafullo, he told TGM that this is not a surprise.
“I think that no matter what they said, he was always a temporary head (of the agency),” Chiafullo said.
He said the man coming in to replace Jones as acting director, Thomas E. Brandon, is “very amendable to working with federal firearms licensees.” Brandon has been the ATF deputy director under Jones, and has been with the agency more than 26 years.
Brandon was transferred from Detroit to the Phoenix field office office following the Fast and Furious revelations. In Phoenix, he was the special agent in charge of a field office that was under a microscope.
When Gottlieb called for Jones’ resignation, he noted in a press release that, “When Jones took over the agency, first as an acting director in 2011 and then became the permanent director in 2013, the public, and especially the Second Amendment community, had high hopes that he would straighten out the ATF. The ammunition ban blunder clearly shows that he hasn’t.”
In a statement following Jones’ announcement, Gottlieb said, “Even before Jones took over as the first ‘permanent’ director the ATF has had in more than a decade, the agency had a questionable reputation for what appeared to be rogue tactics. When Jones was brought on board as acting director in 2011, and then appointed to the post officially in 2013, everybody had very high hopes that he would turn things around.
“We hope that under new leadership,” he added, “ATF can finally remember what it’s job is supposed to be: going after criminals instead of creating them.”
