I thought Trump's mission was reducing bloated government and its unelected bureaucrats. So what idiot cooked up this insane scheme to merge two corruptly fascist government bureaucracies into a single SUPER-BLOATED bureaucracy?
The only way this would make any sense at all would be if the actual grand plan was to make it easier to fire everyone and shut both down forever.
We all know how rotten the ATF is but there may be some question about the effectiveness of the Drug Enforcement Administration. This well-sourced piece from The Fordham Law Review might shed some insight on that:
As a DEA retiree, I am unalterably opposed to contaminating DEA with ATF. The only positive outcome would be supplying ATF with some adult supervision. Otherwise, a wiser course would be restricting ATF to industry regulation and transferring ATF's criminal enforcement responsibilities to the Bureau.
Most of us were supportive of the ATF agents. As more information came out, it became clear that the operation was a management goat screw.
The Davidians were known to be well-armed. (The arrest warrant for Koresh alleged illegal conversion of AR-15s to full auto.) The ATF raid team was a large group of street agents gathered from various offices in the Mid-South who had not worked together before. They were armed with submachineguns and pistols and wearing Level IIIA (at best) armor.
The case agents were warned that the raid had been compromised, but management elected to go forward anyway.
See, "Waco" by Jeff Guinn for an account of the investigation and the siege as well as accounts from surviving Davidians.
We voted to reduce bureaucracies, not combine them into one huge unmanageable blob with everyone fighting each other (and us) to come out on top of the dung heap.
Abolishing the ATF outright would be a beautiful thing, but let’s not allow a desire for the perfect to prevent the attainment of the good. The ATF is clearly a rogue agency full of thugs. Placing it under the roof of another agency that has a better track record is probably the only way to rein it in and possibly dissolve it. Hopefully its mission will be redirected by DEA to focus strictly on drug related enforcement activity and the rogue actors will be kicked to the curb.
When ideas like this start, one can only use the age old refrain, what could possibly go wrong? Well, everything. These agencies have very different areas of operation, and completely different goals. Is this being done for the optics of less agencies? Though the number of employees will undoubtably stay the same. How about overhauling the ATF, that would make a lot more sense. Start by enforcing the laws we already have, and locking up criminals.
I thought Trump's mission was reducing bloated government and its unelected bureaucrats. So what idiot cooked up this insane scheme to merge two corruptly fascist government bureaucracies into a single SUPER-BLOATED bureaucracy?
The only way this would make any sense at all would be if the actual grand plan was to make it easier to fire everyone and shut both down forever.
We all know how rotten the ATF is but there may be some question about the effectiveness of the Drug Enforcement Administration. This well-sourced piece from The Fordham Law Review might shed some insight on that:
"Time to abolish the DEA"
https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6113&context=flr
As a DEA retiree, I am unalterably opposed to contaminating DEA with ATF. The only positive outcome would be supplying ATF with some adult supervision. Otherwise, a wiser course would be restricting ATF to industry regulation and transferring ATF's criminal enforcement responsibilities to the Bureau.
I was in the Detroit office at the time the Waco fiasco occurred.
Most of us were supportive of the ATF agents. As more information came out, it became clear that the operation was a management goat screw.
The Davidians were known to be well-armed. (The arrest warrant for Koresh alleged illegal conversion of AR-15s to full auto.) The ATF raid team was a large group of street agents gathered from various offices in the Mid-South who had not worked together before. They were armed with submachineguns and pistols and wearing Level IIIA (at best) armor.
The case agents were warned that the raid had been compromised, but management elected to go forward anyway.
See, "Waco" by Jeff Guinn for an account of the investigation and the siege as well as accounts from surviving Davidians.
The Upside Of An ATF – DEA Merger
• Currently, ATF must justify its’ entire existence by enforcing gun laws. This would not be the case once ATF is absorbed into DEA
• It is absurd to think that DEA would completely abandon its’ drug enforcement mission to persecute law abiding gun owners
• It is much more likely that current ATF agents would be redirected to drug enforcement
• The combined agency would be able to conduct many gun busts in the course of drug enforcement
• Moving ATF into DEA is the closest we will get to abolishing an agency that has a massively dysfunctional culture
Are there very real risks? Yes. Are the details of such a merger very important? Yes. Could I be totally wrong? Absolutely!
As long as ATF management doesn't come with them.
Aw. Losing their little fiefdom?
I wonder whose brilliant idea this is.
Aren't these organizations already combined under the DHS?
No. Both are in Justice.
Ok good how about we delete the atf.
We voted to reduce bureaucracies, not combine them into one huge unmanageable blob with everyone fighting each other (and us) to come out on top of the dung heap.
Not a fan either.
They certainly have kept this quiet. Not sure it’s a great idea. The DEA pioneered the “Constitution-Lite” raid tactics later adopted by the ATF.
Abolishing the ATF outright would be a beautiful thing, but let’s not allow a desire for the perfect to prevent the attainment of the good. The ATF is clearly a rogue agency full of thugs. Placing it under the roof of another agency that has a better track record is probably the only way to rein it in and possibly dissolve it. Hopefully its mission will be redirected by DEA to focus strictly on drug related enforcement activity and the rogue actors will be kicked to the curb.
Awww. Now your going to have to deal with criminals and cartels not harassing Americans.
When ideas like this start, one can only use the age old refrain, what could possibly go wrong? Well, everything. These agencies have very different areas of operation, and completely different goals. Is this being done for the optics of less agencies? Though the number of employees will undoubtably stay the same. How about overhauling the ATF, that would make a lot more sense. Start by enforcing the laws we already have, and locking up criminals.