FBI Director Kash Patel has issued a memo categorically denying a recent CNN report alleging plans to reassign a significant number of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents to the FBI. The CNN article claimed that Patel intended to transfer up to 1,000 ATF agents, effectively reducing the agency’s workforce by more than a third.
CNN stated: “The move represents a major cutback of the ATF, an agency that long has been in the crosshairs of gun rights groups that believe its work infringes on Second Amendment rights. The ATF has about 2,600 agents and more than 5,000 employees, a number that has remained largely unchanged for years.”
The memo, penned by Patel, was retrieved by Fox News. The memo reads: “I want to address a report from this weekend speculating about the intentions of FBI leadership with personnel decisions at the ATF. This weekend, CNN reported news of a plan on the part of our leadership to ‘cut as many as one third’ of ATF agents and reallocate 1,000 agents over to the FBI. The report even suggested our leadership team altered course after reading a news report, and ultimately backed off certain aspects of changes. This ‘report’ is entirely false.
“The fake news will NEVER be responsible for operational command authority over the ATF, we are. The brave men and women of the ATF who courageously dedicate themselves to protecting the American public will not have their security jeopardized by the media’s disinformation campaigns. When we make decisions, they will be final, regardless of the input of CNN or any other news organization.”
