Talk:Carl Truscott

message: Head's up! New article about Truscott appeared on the Washington Post alleging he has authorized questionable spending...
The October 16, 2006 Federal Times also has a front-page article concerning this subject, "A flat-screen TV in the office bathroom?". --Tregonsee 16:37, 20 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Two sources 

message: I propose we add this addition under Career>U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in place of the current entry:
"Truscott was appointed by the attorney general to serve as ATF director, a role he held from 2004-2006. He resigned abruptly in August of 2006 amid allegations of aberrant spending practices and ethics violations that were later confirmed by a scathing Justice Department Inspector General’s Office Report."
Ref: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/11/AR2006101101050.html Short, sweet and to the point. We should also, as previously mentioned, edit the other sections where there is no source for the statements or claims made. Attention whore (talk) 18:03, 3 February 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, it seems a bit undue - we can and perhaps if cited should add something - abruptly can go and aberrant also and ethics and scathing - please attempt to remain uninvolved WP:NPOV and to report in an uninvolved manner as WP:BLP requires us to. If you really want to add something to this article about the report and the resignation - I suggest and request you read a couple of the links I have provided and offer something a bit closer to policy compliant - I have read the whole report and many claims were not found to be worthy of action and as the subject resigned - no action or blame on this living subject was appropriated. Off2riorob (talk) 20:31, 3 February 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: It all cited and I'm not sure why it seems undue. If you check Google, based on pages, this information seems to be pretty much almost all that is noteworthy about this subject. I'll agree to removing scathing. Abruptly is absolutely accurate, and one of the main emphasis of the report is ethics problems, so removing that would make no sense. As for the word aberrant, removing that would would make the statment of "allegations of spending practices" inaccurate and non-sensical. I am extremely familiar with WP:NPOV and WP:BLP, but thank you for the links. Attention whore (talk) 05:41, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

text: Rob (Off2riorob), you might like to look at the information I've just added to the above section, specifically at the cites I provided to pages 10 and 154 of the Inspector General's report that actually do blame Truscott for misconduct.  – OhioStandard (talk) 20:57, 11 March 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: There has been no response in over a week to this discussion. Adding the suggested addition. Attention whore (talk) 18:09, 14 February 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Hey, welcome back, thanks for the greeting and the well wishes Ohio. Off2riorob (talk) 21:02, 11 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Resignation 

message: (1) ATF director steps down amid probe of spending, August 05, 2006, By Dan Eggen, the Washington Post ( via the Orlando Sentinel )
QUOTE: Carl J. Truscott, a 22-year veteran of the Secret Service who took over as ATF chief in 2004, was under fire for his spending and management practices at a time when the agency was considering sharp cuts in the number of new cars, bulletproof vests and other basics it provides agents... Sources familiar with the project told The Washington Post earlier this year that Truscott planned to purchase, among other things, nearly $300,000 in extras for the new director's suite, including a $65,000 conference table and more than $100,000 for hardwood floors, custom trim and other items.
(2) Inspector General Says Truscott Violated Ethics Rules, Washington Post, Thursday, October 12, 2006
QUOTE: Fine's 157-page report confirms these allegations and many more, concluding that Truscott frequently broke regulations or exercised poor judgment in making decisions that had a serious impact on the ATF's operational budget when the agency was cutting back on vehicle maintenance, bulletproof vests and other basics.
The report also says that Justice investigators were "troubled by Truscott's lack of acceptance of responsibility" for his actions and their repercussions.
"From relatively minor issues, such as decisions on how to furnish the Director's Suite in the new Headquarters building, to major policy directives, such as how many new employees to hire, Truscott attempted to deflect responsibility to his subordinates, misrepresented the amount of involvement he had in the actions, or otherwise sought to distance himself from his own decisions," the report says. "We found several instances where Truscott's statements to us about his conduct were contradicted by numerous other witnesses, and in some instances, by documents as well."
Truscott was particularly fixated on adding "unnecessary amenities" to the director's suite and the building's gymnasium, the inspector general's report said, including millwork estimated at $283,000.
(3) Where It's Always Christmas; Ruth Marcus. The Washington Post. Oct 25, 2006.
QUOTE: ... the Justice Department's inspector general last week chronicled the exploits of Carl Truscott, former head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- and the resources Truscott abused were taxpayer dollars, not private funds. While his agency was having to cut back on bulletproof vests for agents, Truscott was arranging for deluxe features in the director's suite of the agency's new building, including a flat-panel television in his private bathroom and a parquet floor modeled on those in the vice president's ceremonial office. Unlike his predecessors, he traveled with an extensive security entourage, and because the director "did not like to wait," security personnel met him at the airport to bypass lines. He violated government ethics rules by using "significant ATF resources" -- about 20 agency employees ended up being drafted to help -- on his nephew's high school project to produce a video about the ATF.
(4) ATF Officials Who Challenged Director Moved to Lower Posts, The Washington Post, Monday, February 12, 2007
QUOTE: An inspector general's report issued after his departure showed that Truscott -- who previously served as head of President Bush's security detail at the Secret Service -- engaged in a wide-ranging pattern of questionable expenditures on a new ATF headquarters, personal security and other items. The report also said that he violated ethics rules by forcing employees to help his nephew prepare a high school video project.
The initial negative story about Truscott was reported by Dan Eggen of the the Washington Post, and followed up by that paper in subsequent reports, but was also quickly picked up via the newswires ( AP, etc. ) and reported across the United States, via the following media properties, among many others. These results are from the ProQuest and Gale/GeneralOneFile proprietary databases; I've indicated online sources for some, where they could be found quickly; I haven't checked the availability of online sources for all, however:
(A) A.T.F. Staff Was Ordered to Help With Homework, Associated Press, October 12, 2006, via NY Times.
QUOTE: The former director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ordered his staff to help with his nephew’s high school homework, wasting the agency’s time and violating ethics rules, an inquiry found... An estimated 20 bureau employees were pulled in to help with the documentary...
(B) ATF helps chief's nephew with school. (2006, October 12). Chicago Sun - Times,p. 26. Retrieved March 9, 2011, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 1144241351).
ABSTRACT: The nephew's project -- a documentary about the ATF that took 10 months to complete -- was one of a half-dozen examples of lapses in judgment Carl J. Truscott committed before he resigned in August, according to the report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine.
(C) Report Says ATF Was Ordered by Then-Chief to Help on Homework. (2006, October 12). Los Angeles Times,p. A.15. Retrieved March 9, 2011, from Los Angeles Times. (Document ID: 1144172971).
QUOTE: The man who resigned in August as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had ordered his staff to help with his nephew's high school homework, violating ethics rules, says a report released Wednesday.
(D) ATF chief stepping down amid probe into spending ; New building over budget: Agents' supplies may be cut; Seattle Times,p. A4. Retrieved March 9, 2011, from Washington State Newsstand. (Document ID: 1089778991).
ABSTRACT: A report on ATF is expected soon from Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine, whose office has been investigating allegations that Carl Truscott put through or proposed hundreds of thousands of dollars of unnecessary plan changes and upgrades to ATF's new 438,000-square-foot headquarters. Justice investigators also questioned ATF employees about a costly trip Truscott and others took to London last year and about allegations that ATF employees helped assemble a school video report for a relative of Truscott, according to officials interviewed in the investigation and who declined to be identified. Truscott has declined to comment on the allegations.
These and related stories were also carried by The Denver Post; The St. Louis Post-Dispatch; The Times Union, Albany, NY; USA Today; Tulsa World, Tulsa, OK; The Houston Chronicle; The Record, Bergen County, NJ; The Boston Globe, and a great many other media outlets, as already noted by user Attention whore, above.  – OhioStandard (talk) 02:40, 10 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  More on secondary source reports after Inspector General's findings 

message: I wrote earlier that a focus on the findings of official misconduct over the use of ATF time and resources re the nephew's video production project misses the point, and I'd like to explain that. Basically, I think it's important to remember that the DOJ investigation was not just an inquiry into "misconduct", but also into "mismanagement", as the title of  Inspector General's report makes explicit.
A reading of the first couple of pages of the Inspector General Act of 1978 makes it clear that coming to conclusions about management competence, efficiency, effectiveness, and deficiencies and problems with the same is every bit as much within the purview of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) as is coming to conclusions about violations of administrative law.
To cite just one example of this, and one that's echoed in many of the secondary sources, the OIG's report focuses heavily on Truscott's unprecedented expansion of hiring new personnel, against multiple warnings from senior ATF and budget officials that his expenditures went far beyond what the ATF could pay for. The report says this left the budget for actual operations so constrained that some agents were using expired ballistic protection vests, and that the ability to pay for respirators, cars, necessary travel, agent training, security and access control systems for ATF buildings, internal investigations of misconduct, support for external law enforcement agencies such as the fulfillment of firearms tracing requests, and other expenses critical to the ATF mission was severely compromised.
Truscott's very expensive modifications to the already-completed-when-he-arrived design for the ATF headquarters building only made the problem of insufficient funds for operations worse, according to the report, which mentions, among other things, a design change he initiated that would have spent $243,000 - $283,000 just for wooden doors and millwork for his own office. I'll have to re-read the report to be sure whether it does or does not, but if it doesn't explicitly identify that as mismanagement, it's certainly the case that implicit disdain for that and similar actions is ubiquitous throughout the report.  – OhioStandard (talk) 14:13, 14 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mismanagement versus misconduct 

message: A primary source, but probably should be admissible for Truscott's educational and career background, and awards:
* http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2004/04/040104-doj-ag-ashcroft-appoints-truscott.pdf
Here's another that's kind of curious. Apparently the guy who peached on Truscott, in large measure, got no thanks for doing so:
* http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-28/politics/atf.whistleblowers.ties_1_atf-special-agent-deputy-director?_s=PM:POLITICS
The following is just an html copy of the pdf Attention whore gave us above, way above, of the OIG report:
* http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0610/index.htm
And here's a search string that should return about 75 press releases from ATF that have Truscott's name in them. I've looked through most of them very quickly; if anyone wants to do so more carefully, and then use the results to look for corresponding secondary sources (e.g. see if any secondary sources expanded on their press releases), that might be a way to add some relevant content, too. Sorry I don't have time to do more than throw out these suggestions right now. Best,  – OhioStandard (talk) 04:25, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: The ATF press release should be fine for c.v. stuff (I get amazed at how some people question such stuff sometimes). The "index" is the same as the index for the actual report - it does not claim to be anything else. The CNN article appears to be more about Domenech than anything else ("For years, Edgar Domenech had been part of the machine that had created this circle of destruction, the self-promotion of the senior managers, with all the perks, and using the agency for the personal playground," Cefalu said. is unrelated in any way to Truscott, Truscott only comes in because Domenich seems to blame him for everything) - the AIG did not make any findings that Truscott violated law with regard to the '$207 million ATF headquarters" building (as an aside - the building was under construction when Truscott became director - the allegations were about a much smaller amount spent on furnishings and the gym per the OIG report so the $207 million might be questioned). Collect (talk) 08:00, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  A few new sources 

message: "Mr. Truscott was appointed by the attorney general to serve as ATF director, a role he held from 2004-2006. Under Mr. Truscott’s leadership, the bureau reduced violent crime to an historic 30-year low, expanded its role in explosives investigations, developed a National Center for Explosives Training and Research and constructed a new training academy. Most importantly the 5,000 men and women of ATF were able to make effective contributions to the Department of Justice’s highest priority – the prevention of terrorism – through intelligence sharing, investigations, regulation, training, laboratory services and an expanded international presence."
Source: Biography From: http://www.asero.com/content/ourteam/ctruscott/
John221x24 (talk) 21:14, 26 August 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: That is not considered a reliable source and not suitable as material for the article. Journals, newspapers, magazines and books which are published and vetted are considered reliable sources. — Berean Hunter (talk) 21:26, 26 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Edit request on 26 August 2012 

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thread_title:  External links modified