Here's a dumb question: Who are the good bosses in our agency and why? I have been reluctant to post on this site, despite having been a reader for years. Instead of always having destructive conversations here, why not let those who have the respect of their troops be recognized for good leadership. I don't care for bosses who are pushovers, or perfect, nor do I expect a boss who always agrees with me. I do expect a qualified and competent boss who has EXPERIENCE.

So, let's start. Who are the good guys out there who have promoted? Maybe we can encourage them to promote higher and be in positions to effect change. Besides, it'd be nice to have a break from the negativity on this site.

My votes: Carlos Canino, John D'Angelo,Pete McCarthy, Eric Hardin, Rick Serrano. All good guys who have experience and respect their troops.

We SHOULD support our good or even GREAT bosses. But they are NOT the ones who are creating to turmoil throughout the Bureau. It IS after-all their job. Doing your job and doing it properly is what we get paid for. Clearly the "good" bosses do not have any influence with the policy makers. Why are they not banding together to call out Brandon and Jones for their corrupt practices? Its great that we still have a few good bosses, BUT if they sit silent, what good does it do? Every time Jones protects clear and present corrupt and abusive practices, he lumps all the good bosses in with the bad. Unfortunately you have to pick a side. Stayin neutral and moving in lock step to advance ones own interests is NOT picking a side. The good bosses should be even MORE vocal about the protection of the Two Torres', the Crenshaws, the Riehls, the Mc Lemores, Gillettes, Newells, Voths, Mc Mahons and others. Its an epidemic, NOT an isolated incident.

Any word on when Mr. Brandon will be reporting to Tampa?

Ok Julie Torres is finally retiring. Is it because she has violated so many policies and ethical standards? Or is it because B. Todd told her too?

I guess this falls under the Directors promise to CLEANUPATF. (no pun intended), and his promised accountability. Well not ACTUALLY accountability. Kind of FAUX accountability as in Newell, Gillette and Mc Mahon. Crenshaw and Mclemore fashion.

June 27, 2012 Julie Torres then AD of Internal Affairs signs off on Mc Mahons double dipping, followed up by Deputy Director Brandons signature on July 2, 2012. Since then, the OIG slammed these two officially.

Julie for her abuses was given a PAID move to Florida, retained her SES status and benefits, and NOW some 23 months later, (with the PRB surely nipping at her heels), she NOW retires just in the nick of time. Wow, what luck. But that begs to question, What about Brandon? Why is he still in charge?  Accountability Jones style. Bosses get a pass and continue the downward spiral, while field employees are exposed to the FULL wrath.

Good job Mr. Jones, this will surely reign in your bosses.

Deputy Director Brandon recently sent out a memo reminding Agents that they MUST keep their firearms in their personal control when on commercial airlines. Seriously? Over 20 weeks of advanced training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and mandatory FAA flying armed training and we need to be REMINDED of this?

Am I the ONLY agent insulted by his relentless, clueless leadership that even allows the non-stop failure of accountability? Some things shouldn't have to be addressed to the whole field. Talk about LOW confidence and faith in your employees.

http://www.ticklethe...tings-is-crazy/

The question is, is how do you hold a Director and Deputy Director accountable? Or is it just the agents and supervisors? The hits just keep on coming.

The fact that Director Jones and Brandon are OK with the McMahon double dip, it NOT likely they will fire, demote or otherwise discipline Julie Torres, Zapor, Milanawski, or Brandon. And please do not insult the ENTIRE fields intelligence or that of Congress by suggesting, encouraging these people to retire with FULL benefits is somehow decisive. Its not. More of the same. The walls are caving in, and it appears that THEY, Jones, Brandon and Turk don't care.

Stop the joke which is the Newark Division and just eliminate it.  Turn all of NJ over to New York.  One less SAC, two less ASAC's, one less DOO, one less Intel Supervisor, one less SOO, one less DTA, one less FIC.  [does Newark have a PIO, while we're at it?  A GS-13 PIO is probably the biggest waste of a -13, especially when any PIO is an idiot.]

 

Put a few more agents back into groups to produce cases; meanwhile, less bosses is always a good idea.

 

While we're at it, get rid of Baltimore too.  Turn it all over to Washington FD.  Again, less bosses, more agents to produce cases.

 

After all, isn't ATF supposed to produce good cases and arrest violent criminals?  Or is it to produce as many SES positions and cushy collateral jobs for a certain few -13's?

 

I remember the day when ATF compared itself to the Marines, while the FBI was like the Army.  Every Marine is a rifleman, and every ATF agent does cases, someone once claimed.  Well, that's not the case any more.  Too many ATF agents who have found themselves a way to get -13 pay without having to do -13 work.

Great thoughts, but after fluffing up all these positions, do you really think they are gonna let them go?. Not the way of the government. They'll make more. HQ has bloated for yrs. We now have 3 GS-14s doing what one GS-13 project officer used to do. Some shops have more 14s than 13s. If GAO ever does a desk audit, about 2/5ths of HQ Agents will be demoted and returned to the field. They used to be there to support us, now its the other way around. 2 ASACs in very field division where historically there was one. If my math serves me, when I came on over 20 years ago we had 2000-2500 Agents and a Approx. 250,000,000 budget. We now have 2000-2500 Agents and a 1.1 BILLION dollar budget. ????????????????????????????????????????

Has anyone seen ATFs response to Congress that were due yeaterday?

B. Todd and Brandon,

 

Your responses to the questions Congress asked on May 16 are due on Monday.  It will be most interesting to see how you choose to answer regarding the Internal Affairs Division, the Professional Review Board and the Bureau Deciding Official inquiries.

 

"We understand that ATF's Internal Affairs Division typically reviews all complaints and allegations involving ATF personnel and generates a report for ATF's Professional Review Board.  The Professional Review Board then assesses each finding of misconduct and determines whether to propose discipline or adverse action to ATF's deciding official."

 

     -Actual Excerpt from letter:

Congressional Letter Excerpt 05.16.14.jpg

 

congressional-letter-to-atf-5-16-14-2013.pdf

 

I know that you know that I know your dirty little secret.  I am not being coy.  I am not legally allowed to discuss this yet.  Numerous people with insider information and amidst your inner circle know as well.  Can you get all of them on board and organized to cover it up or blame me for it by Monday?  This is a very slippery slope. 

 

You guys have a nice weekend now.

 

J

LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

Can anyone make sense of the spinning promotion/demotion of the SAC who was removed from the Ohio field division. If we are tracking this, Oversight or Sen. Sensenbrenner should expand their inquiry. Congress is closely tracking CLEANUPATF. It has been said, "the media and CLEANUPATF are the only way they know whats going on inside ATF". Scary huh? If we are tracking correctly, this SAC was pulled unceremoniously due to a near mutiny. She was then sent to be SAC in Newark BUT NEVER TOOK THE REIGNS. Where was she and what was she doing? SIDENOTE, she would not have been removed without the efforts of the then Ombudsman. This angered MANY SACs who thought the Ombudsmans office had to much power.

After a period as a no show SAC in Newark, she was made an Assistant Director of HR. The after Cleanupatf OUTTED Mr. Jones for even CONSIDERING keep her as a manager, shes now going BACK to a SAC job in Newark. Is this correct? Is there soemthing thats been left out? You cant make this S@#$ up.

June 2 is the deadline for Director Jones to respond to a Congressional inquiry regarding the manipulation of the Titanic deck chairs. AGAIN. I predict something along the lines of, "Sirs" due to privacy act regulations we are currently unable to provide exact responses to your inquiries. HOWEVER, rest assured every attempt was made to hold fully accountable Mr. Zapor and Mr. Milanawski. Due to the scheduling of the professional review board. Mr. Zapor announced his retirement before the agency could act. Much like was the case with George Gillette who stayed in full supervisory pay status until the very last minute when he retired. We would like to point out that Mr. Zapor was demoted one level, (although he was transferring home and didnt lose a dime). As for Mr. Milanawski, we made him come back to headquarters AGAIN and basically hoped you didnt notice. We are however aggressively pursuing actions against Jon Dodson, Vincent Cefalu and Jay Dobyns as well as countless other line agents for exposing the acts of your inquiry. As for transferring multiple SES bosses after less than one year in their current positions, we needed to burn up move money before the end of the year. Yes Mr. Atteberry and others are costing the taxpayers Millions in repeated moves, but at this time we are unable to explain why. We hope this satisfies your concerns with the efficient running of ATF.

Did I get it close?

See if you can track this................

Employee notifies IA of a sexual harassment claim.

Internal Affairs investigates claim and determines it to be UNFOUNDED, (GO FIGURE).

The employee files EEOC. They make the play to terminate the employee. NOW GET THIS........

One of the counts was disrupting the work place by notifying Internal Affairs, and because they found the allegations to be unfounded, it disrupted the work place.

DOES THIS NOW MEAN????????That every time, a retaliatory manager sicks the Internal Affairs dogs on an employee and the allegations are unfounded, that SAID MANAGER will now face disciplinary action?

IT BETTER. WE ARE PAYING ATTENTION MR. JONES AND MR. BRANDON

It seems so simple to generate questions and answers for these hearings. CALL IN CAREER FIELD AGENTS. They don't have agendas, they aren't inclined to play word games. Simple question. Mr. Jones, what has changed in recent years to create all of the failures when ATF has successfully conducted such operations for decades before your arrival without incident?

News flash, new policies aren't the fix. We have policies in place both written and implied regarding safe law enforcement operations. A 20+ year veteran recently stated, hell if we would have been allowed to act like this for the past 20 years, our job woulda been so much easier. STOP promoting MORONS, and STOP promoting or shifting incompetents, ie Zapor and Milanawski. Stop letting OR ENCOURAGING OPSRO to tamp down these egregious acts by MANAGERS SPECIFICALLY.

The below was posted today. If true it signals somebody got caught. Why has Ms. Boumans hasty departure not been posted on the ATF website as is consistent with those who leave under honorable conditions? No party? No fareful email? Really? After a dozen years at ATF and NADA? Why has no EEOC Executive at ATF been announced. Rumors swirl, but you are cautioned to not speculate. It could actually be a promotion inside DOJ or another law enforcement agency. No one would leave a prestigious position as a senior member of ATF Chief Counsels Office, unless of course THEY GOT CAUGHT. What will this do to all the cases she reviewed and decided as the head of ATFs EEOC office? In direct contradiction to the EEOCs MD 110? If lack of ethics or integrity or judicial misconduct led to her departure, why wasn't she fired. Again, speculation is not fact. Its not as if she left hastily for a job at the EPA or Library of Congress.  She has purposefully misled her bosses, and destroyed many hard working agents lives as "just doing her job". Then why is the music in the background playing ding dong the wicked witch is dead?

Jaime3

HERE WE GO AGAIN. Another office mired in controversy, and the SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE AND ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENTS IN CHARGE, are attempting to spin and conceal HUGE issues from HQ and have minimized the violations to internal affairs DAD King OBVIOUSLY WITH AD GLEYSTEENS APPROVAL. The violations are blatant, unethical and WILL result in significant investigation and disciplinary actions. As usual, the attempt by Field Division senior managers to conceal and cover-up the allegations will result in disaster. The affected SAC has a proven record of failure(documented), but Mr. Jones apparently thought it a good idea to promote him anyway.

The field division in question is conducting their own internal investigation trying to tamp down the NOW documented abuses and allegations INCLUDING INTEGRITY VIOLATIONS from HQ oversight. It would appear IA is complicit designating the violations as management issues........THEY ARE NOT. Secret meetings with employees, interviewing entire offices conducted by an ASAC and a (Yes man RAC),   DETAILS TO FOLLOW.

CAN ANYONE PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW SUCH ACTIONS ADVANCE OUR MISSION READINESS?

How disturbing is this? How disturbing is it that ATF leadership denies there is a problem? Mr. Jones, Brandon and Turk are thumbing their noses at the dedicated employees of ATF as evidenced by their refusal to reign in out of control Chief counsels office as evidenced by Mr. Brandon completely ignoring the FAAP recommendations. Does this in fact VALIDATE those Congressional members who resisted Mr. Jones confirmation based upon allegations of reprisals and abuse? YOU BE THE JUDGE. Mr. Jones has been in charge either acting or confirmed for over 2 years. compare the 2010 stats and the steady increase. Sadly, these numbers were taken directly from the Official U.S. DOJ website TODAY..........................

Total number of employees        FBI 35,000+      

Total number of pending EEOC complaints reported end of yr 2012     312    Less than 1%

Total number of employees       DEA  10,000+

Total number of pending EEOC complaints reported end of yr 2012      53      Less than 1%

Total number of employees       ATF    4770

Total number of pending EEOC complaints reported end of yr 2012      1362  More than 25%

SERIOUSLY?????????

Where there is smoke there is fire America.

http://www.justice.g...eeos/nofear.htm

Draconian is the word you are looking for. How is it????? THAT

Mr. Jones and Brandon do not see the impropriety of Rachel Bouman, being the EEOC Administrative executive director for ATF, WHILE still acting in her capacity litigating cases and advising supervisors in the field. Does he think we are all STUPID? Remember, SHE decides which of your allegations are accepted for investigation. And she is protecting her communications based on Atty Client Privilege. Come On Mr. DIRECTOR.

Mr. Brandon et al. make a HUGE exception to the outside employment agreement for McMahon in exchange for his silence no doubt, but can't make an exception for Jon Dodson after they left him hanging in the wind and in some cases attacked him during Fast and Furious?

How is it that ONE of the first things Mr. Jones did upon taking the helm as the ACTING Director was form a Field Agent Advisory Panel which he touted to the media and Se. Grassley and Chairman Issa, BUT almost instantly upon being confirmed, the previous member are going to be removed and the FAAP as a viable mechanism of communication between the ALL KNOWING HQ Executive staff and the field, is now lame duck and being disregarded completely?

Smoke and Mirrors. Not ALL the threats in the world, not all the free leadership books or playing cards will encourage the field to close the gaps or follow this sort of "leadership". Respect and loyalty are EARNED, NOT demanded.

B. Todd Jones - you have a challenging couple of weeks ahead.

 

When the F&F reports came out your response that it didn't take place on your watch.  Then you failed to enact any true discipline on those deserving of it.

 

When the IAD report came to you on my issues your response was that it didn't take place on your watch.  You sat on the findings and failed to enact any true discipline on those deserving of it.

 

Now the sting/storefront issues are before you.  Whether true or not, this happened on your watch.  I am assuming you will be called to testify before Congress.

 

Will you take any responsibility?  Will you accept any accountability?  Will you stand up for your agency?  Or, will you throw field agents onto the train tracks?  Will you blame agents for whatever mistakes are detailed to save yourself?  Will you blame those managers beneath you to keep yourself clean?  Will it be the "I didn't know", "I don't recall", "I was not aware of that" cover story we've seen from your office a million times before?  Will you defend those agents who are out there running the mostly highly efficient undercover operations our agency has ever seen or allow them to be sacrificed as well?  Will you let a few mistakes crush the program?  Will you make promises to end our uc ops to make nice-nice and gut the bureau's best weapon against violent crime?  Will it be everybody's fault but your own?  Will you just dispatch one of the flunkies who drinks from your Kool-Aid jar and have them take the blows for you?  Will you even bother to consult with the best-of-the-best operators we have to help them give you a fighting chance to protect them, and yourself for that matter?  Will you just answer the way Eric coaches you to?  Will you have ATF's attorneys try to get you out of the subpoena so you can avoid this all together?

 

Careful now.  If the rumors are true and that you've done nothing and said nothing to protect a potential Attorney General nomination, what you do and don't say could be critical.   Think about how the hide-and-duck strategy DOJ put Andy Traver under worked out for him.

 

Again, What did you know, When did you know it, What did you do about it.

 

I can only hope that Jason Chaffetz or Trey Gowdy gets to question you.  Your agency is watching.  Own up and protect it, or double talk to protect yourself.

 

All you have to do is speak to a couple of the very best uc operators in history.  They are right there under your nose.  They can ammo you up with an overwhelming amount of success stories and incredible achievements.  Trust them if you hope to survive this.

ATF HQ operates in a vacuum. Word is that Mr. Jones blew a gasket when he received a subpoena.We (the field) have offered countless times to help redirect our Bureau and help resolve the countless employee disputes. He has been here long enough to effect change but hasn't.  His leadership style of "shut the hell up or else", has proven ineffective. Shutting down effective programs because his managers cannot be trusted and are unskilled and inexperienced is not the answer.Placing more and more restrictions on Agents does NOT make our communities safer. Raising the bar and holding managers accountable WILL ensure proper procedure and sound practices. Remember Mr. Jones, we did this and did it VERY well for almost 40 years before you got here. You HAVE to ask yourself whats different now? Fast track promotions of yes men, failure of any fear of consequences by protecting the Newells, Gillettes, Mc Mahons, Zapors, Torres x2 and running off your senior most experienced Agents have all contributed to your short term failure as a Director. DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AND EXPECTING DIFFERENT RESULTS is running our Bureau into the ground. Sir, WHY DIDNT YOU PULL THE PIN ON THE DOBYNS LAWSUIT AND SHOW YOU WERE A MAN WHO WOULD NOT ALLOW SUCH CONDUCT IN YOUR BUREAU?

Did Director Jones really just say UNDER OATH, that he is concerned about law enforcement sensitive information? Really? Does a Prime time showboating expose' on 20/20 suggest he really cares ANYTHING about operational security? YOU GAVE THE BADGUYS OUR PLAYBOOK.

 

Yet ANOTHER New Deputy Director

 

Will Director Jones fire Brandon and Torres for attempting to defraud the American tax payers and protect another one of their peers? Will our already inept management team be re-organized (shuffled to give the appearance of accountability) AGAIN? Or will Director Jones say " I did not know"? Perhaps the simpler question for House Oversight is "WHAT DO YOU KNOW"?

 

To clarify.

My former RAC and ASAC [both fat ba$tards] gigged me [a lowly GS-13 Plain Old Agent] for three days [the equivalent of a "drum-head courtmartial"] for a pure chicken$hit issue -- I kept on the wall in my office an email I got from a retired ATF RAC [he retired with his dignity and integrity] which cast a light on the bumblings of other bosses, like the one who needed three hours to watch 60 Minutes.  Meanwhile, the same Division had no problems with a punk agent mocking my line of duty injuries.

 

And so the list begins!

Clearly Brandon and Torres should be demoted from any managerial positions in this Bureau.

My former RAC and ASAC [both fat ba$tards] gigged me [a lowly GS-13 Plain Old Agent] for three days [the equivalent of a "drum-head courtmartial"] for a pure chicken$hit issue -- I kept on the wall in my office an email I got from a retired ATF RAC [he retired with his dignity and integrity] which cast a light on the bumblings of other bosses, like the one who needed three hours to watch 60 Minutes. Meanwhile, the same Division had no problems with a punk agent mocking my line of duty injuries.

And so the list begins!