ATF Still Under Fire

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Agents Target ATF’s Alleged Retaliation Culture

By Ryan J. Reilly | May 27, 2010 -- 9:28 am

Wednesday wasn’t a good night for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Several frustrated agents presented the agency as a place where speaking out against wrongdoing can be career suicide in a segment titled “ATF Under Fire” which aired on the CNN show Anderson Cooper 360.

CNN’s report aired longstanding complaints about retaliation within the agency at a time when violence and gun trafficking on the Mexican border is a major focus for lawmakers.

The star of the segment was California-based ATF agent Vince Cefalu, a 24-year veteran of the force, who told CNN he gets paid $150,000 per year plus benefits to do nothing all day. He claimed that he was blacklisted after he reported an illegal wiretap plan on a 2005 racketeering case. ATF disputed Cefalu’s illegal wiretap claims and said he has had performance issues.

The network gave a video camera to Cefalu and asked him to document his work over five days. Footage showed he spent his time watching television, surfing the Internet, making personal phone calls and grabbing lunch at Taco Bell. His do-nothing job is punishment, he said, for speaking out against ATF.

Hiram Andrades, a supervisor in ATF’s Washington field office who has a pending discrimination complaint, said that working at ATF is “almost like being in an abusive relationship, actually. It’s almost like domestic violence, really. It’s just you think things are going to improve with each director, you think things will get better and improve, but they don’t.”

Andrades said the type of retaliation at ATF “isn’t good for the agency, it’s distracting and it’s not good for the American people. We need to make better use of our tax dollars. We need to use it for the mission versus this kind of stuff.”

“It appears that complaining at ATF can be career suicide,” said CNN correspondent Abbie Boudreau.

Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson, in an interview with the network, disputed that there was a systematic retaliation problem within the agency. “I will not stand for retaliation against people who are abiding by our orders and reporting violations of law or regulations.”

Since fiscal 2005, ATF paid $1.6 million to settle discrimination claims, more than the $1.3 million paid out by the much larger Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to CNN.

CNN also reported that ATF Associate Chief Counsel Eleanor Loos told supervisors at an Atlanta meeting that she considers the Equal Employment Opportunity process a “bitching platform” for employees and bragged that the process could be dragged on for three years. The statement was obtained from ATF supervisor Rafiq Ahmad, but ATF spokesman Scot Thomasson told CNN that the comments were taken out of context and that Ahmad was presenting them in a slanted manner.

The White House has struggled to find a permanent chief for the agency, which hasn’t had a permanent director since 2006. ATF’s unpublished strategic plan for fiscal 2010 through 2016 layout plans for it to focus on violent crime and leave terrorism investigations to the FBI.

CNN host Cooper added that Cefalu had received calls from two investigators at ATF headquarters in Washington once previews for the special began airing. A follow-up segment on ATF will air on CNN Thursday night.


Added May, 26, 2010


Added May, 26, 2010