I understand exactly what tiredofit is talking about. What a waste. Another way for management to get more of the tax payers money while we don't have the money to do our basic mission. Those in authority that read this site, do something about this broken system. Everyday we get more emails about new stuff to cut. It's to the point that we can't do anything! And what we can do is limited in nature! I know we are on a continuing resolution, meaning that we have the same budget money as FY10. There should be no way that we could be this far in the hole in January! Yeah I guess there is when the same incompetent managers keep doing the same incompetent things and those up the chain get all there bonuses and perks. Think about it like this-the AUO that has been approved for the Industry Operations area supervisors and DIOs affects the Bureau and the taxpayers like this: Area Supervisors are GS-14 and DIOs are GS-15. So at the minimum (Step 1), the 10% AUO for each area supervisor is $9,669 and for DIO's it is $11,373. Those figures are based on the Rest of the US. We know that other localities are even more. In my FD there are 3 area supervisors and 1 DIO. So combined, the AUO for the FD is at a minimum $40,380. WOW-what a perk. Many people know there is 10% AUO for those positions, but they don't see the big picture: Minimum levels based on Rest of U.S. and Step 1 1. 10% AUO for IO area supervisors: $9,669 2. 10% AUO for DIOs: $11, 373 3. 10% AUO for a typical Field Division (3 area supervisors, 1 DIO): $40,380 4. 10% AUO for typical Field Division X 23 Field Divisions: $928,470 AT A MINIMUM THIS WASTE AND ABUSE IS COSTING NEARLY A MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR! It's not a joke, I have seen the emails where it was discussed to add AUO for these positions just to entice applicants. Nobody would apply! While we have our measly 1.5%-2% COL frozen for at least 2 years, members of the club still get there 10% bonus-its not really administrative uncontrollable overtime. Hear that sound? The toilet was flushed in about 2006, what you hear now is the sound of the bureau as it makes it's last few rounds around the bottom of the bowl!

Straight Talk to acting Director Melson: When sir will you really put into action what you have been talking about? Do you honestly think that the field lacks the knowledge that only the executive staff can give you? You sir were not always in the position you are in now or were directly before ATF. Didn't you have a working, first-hand knowledge and ideas that could have been implemented up the ladder if you only had the chance to let it be known? I don't think that your knowledge was instantly gained once you reached executive status. Don't you see that we field employees have a better feel for what's going on? The executive staff only has ideas that promote themselves and/or their post-ATF careers. Did they gain unsurpassed knowledge the day they became SES? Of course not. Then why do you continue to let them led you astray? Are you not concerned with the state of the Bureau? Do you not see the freight train coming? I don't want to believe it, but I am beginning to think all your webcasts and Inside ATF articles are just political innuendo. Could it be that you too are only concerned with yourself and your HIGH 3? There are no excuses why things are still in the state that they are in. When will your talk be more than just talk. Retaliation is continuing and some is just beginning UNDER YOUR WATCH. Will it ever really stop? I can tell my kids all day long that they can't do this or that, but when they do and I do nothing but tell them again that they can't do it, the precedent has been set. My words are no good. I didn't back them up with action. What will happen-my kids will not respect me and they will know that I don't mean what I say. The same is true with ATF management. When will you walk the walk and not just talk the talk. When will you make every FD and office play by the same standards instead of letting each local and division boss have their own kingdom? What would Congress say about each office doing things differently although we work for the same agency and supposedly operate under the same set of guidelines and policies? When will management quit getting passes to break the law by waste, fraud and abuse? When will managers get the same treatment that agents get when they are caught misusing a G ride? When will the managers learn that this agency is not for their benefit? It is not run by any one person or group of persons other than the American taxpayers. Do you really care Mr. Melson. It has been the same show UNDER YOUR WATCH as it has with Carter, Sullivan, Truscott and on down the line (Magaw might be the exception). Is that what you want? To be lumped together with those that have been at the helm of the titanic? Or do you want history to be different? You can heed the warnings and steer past the iceberg, or you can let the ship continue on course of known disaster. What would it matter anway? You will have your big fat retirement and ATF director ring to put on display for your friends. So what lives and careers were being destroyed and people were getting abused UNDER YOUR WATCH? Do you really care? After all, we are just thousands of disgruntled people that don't know how to chew gum and walk at the same time-we don't matter to you or the elites of ATF. I don't know if one person can make a difference, but I am on a mission-I am going to email my senators and representatives and every person on the Appropriations Committee EVERY DAY! That's right. EVERY DAY! The emails may be the same content, but maybe by repetition action will take place. As US Government employees-we deserve better. As ATF employees-we deserve better. Mr. Melson-as human beings-we deserve better. Please step up, it's been long enough.

Don't get your hopes up. This is all smoke and mirrors. DOJ and the White House have never really tried to find someone for director. Traver is all they half-heartedly put together. He will never pass confirmation. My bet is that he gets a hold put on his nomination within a week.

It's no secret that Melson's webcast were in direct response to the story on CNN back in May. What has changed? Musical chairs with the Executive Staff, Tip-toeing around the real issues, continued retaliation, continual attitude that the field is ignorant. I could go on and on. NEWSFLASH-Retaliation never stopped and is still rampant. Jobs are still preselected. Rules are still only for the field. Not that the CNN story itself changed things, it did however shine sunlight on the mold that is ATF management. What the mold needs is continued sunlight so that it can be removed and a clean surface can be obtained. We all know that wiping down mold so that you don't necessarily see it doesn't remove it. It continues to grow and once the sunlight is gone, it will be right back more full than ever. My point is this, we didn't really get any attention until the CNN piece threatened the big boys with public exposure. Now that CNN has backed off, the heat is off and things are just like they were. We need more exposure, be it CNN, FOX, MSNBC, whoever! Congress and the appropriations committee will eventually have to deal with some of the issues, but the fastest way to get the obvious problems solved, seem to be media exposure, especially television. Mr. Melson, if you want to do the right thing, then START! If you can't handle it like a leader and decent human being, then do the respectable thing and move along. Is your career and careers of all the Executive staff more important than the rest of ATF? We are hurting and suffering out here-you wouldn't know that because you won't meet with the field. The boys of HQs don't want that to happen. Mr. Melson, some say you are a good guy in a hard position. That may be true; however all great leaders were in hard positions, that is what made them great. Their ability to overcome and do the right thing in spite of the people around them or the cirumstances. I ask you to ask yourself this- if you were the commanding general in a war, could you lead your men in the mission with such low morale as what the field at ATF has? I remind you, you are the commanding general in a war of different sorts, with a mission to accomplish. The morale of the field is low to lower than low. Don't let the liars around you tell you different. You can't be so insulated that you don't know what is really going on. Do something about it. Until then- I and I urge everyone reading this-continue communication with your elected officials. Continue communication with DOJ, OIG, EEOC, and OSC. I don't think it will be long until there is another CNN or similiar piece on tv. We need it. Just like the angry voters in this midterm election, we must channel our anger to productive ways. This is America and this agency is not owned by the Executive staff.

Here's one for you! Apparently, the DIO in Houston, who was arrested in New Orleans after authorities found that he had damaged the Residence Inn there by, among other things, removing his bedroom door and replacing it with a piece of plywood with a duct taped padded circular hole in it, is getting one of those "favors" from HQ. Information suggests that he is being transferred to a HQ job. Wow now that's punishment. Would a non-management person be afforded the same? Not! The paper work to begin dismissal would be completed before the ink had dried on the arrest report. Here is a situation that couldn't initially be covered up by ATF because actions were taken by an outside law enforcement agency-but ATF management is trying desperately to cover it up now and pay a favor to one its "club members". It is also rumored that the original felony arrest has been lowered to a misdemeanor-so.... ATF won't be forced to deal with it (a felony). What an embarrassment to the ATF family-no matter what your position. Yet if your in the "club" you have a whole group of individuals working on your behalf to "help you out".