Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

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The **Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives** (ATF), also referred to as BATFE, is a domestic federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevention of federal offenses involving the unlawful use, manufacture, and possession of firearms and explosives; acts of arson and bombings; and illegal trafficking and tax evasion of alcohol and tobacco products. The ATF also regulates via licensing the sale, possession, and transportation of firearms, ammunition, and explosives in interstate commerce. Many of the ATF's activities are carried out in conjunction with task forces made up of state and local law enforcement officers, such as Project Safe Neighborhoods. The ATF operates a unique fire research laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland. The ATF has 5,101 employees and an annual budget of $1.274 billion (2019).

## History

The ATF was formerly part of the United States Department of the Treasury, having been formed in 1886 as the "Revenue Laboratory" within the Treasury Department's Bureau of Internal Revenue. The history of ATF can be subsequently traced to the time of the revenuers or "revenoors" and the Bureau of Prohibition, which was formed as a unit of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 1920. It was made an independent agency within the Treasury Department in 1927, was transferred to the Justice Department in 1930, and became, briefly, a division of the FBI in 1933.

When the Volstead Act, which established Prohibition in the United States, was repealed in December 1933, the Unit was transferred from the Department of Justice back to the Department of the Treasury, where it became the Alcohol Tax Unit (ATU) of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Special Agent Eliot Ness and several members of The "Untouchables", who had worked for the Prohibition Bureau while the Volstead Act was still in force, were transferred to the ATU. In 1942, responsibility for enforcing federal firearms laws was given to the ATU.

In the early 1950s, the Bureau of Internal Revenue was renamed Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the ATU was given the additional responsibility of enforcing federal tobacco tax laws. At this time, the name of the ATU was changed to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division (ATTD).

In 1968, with the passage of the Gun Control Act, the agency changed its name again, this time to the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the IRS and first began to be referred to by the initials "ATF". In Title XI of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, Congress enacted the Explosives Control Act, 18 U.S.C.A. Chapter 40, which provided for close regulation of the explosives industry and designated certain arsons and bombings as federal crimes. The Secretary of the Treasury was made responsible for administering the regulatory aspects of the new law, and was given jurisdiction over criminal violations relating to the regulatory controls. These responsibilities were delegated to the ATF division of the IRS. The Secretary and the Attorney General were given concurrent jurisdiction over arson and bombing offenses. Pub.L. 91-452, 84 Stat. 922, October 15, 1970.

In 1972 ATF was officially established as an independent bureau within the Treasury Department on July 1, 1972, this transferred the responsibilities of the ATF division of the IRS to the new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Rex D. Davis oversaw the transition, becoming the bureau's first director, having headed the division since 1970. During his tenure, Davis shepherded the organization into a new era where federal firearms and explosives laws addressing violent crime became the primary mission of the agency. However, taxation and other alcohol issues remained priorities as ATF collected billions of dollars in alcohol and tobacco taxes, and undertook major revisions of the federal wine labeling regulations relating to use of appellations of origin and varietal designations on wine labels.

In the wake of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush signed into law the Homeland Security Act of 2002. In addition to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the law shifted ATF from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Justice. The agency's name was changed to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. However, the agency still was referred to as the "ATF" for all purposes. Additionally, the task of collection of federal tax revenue derived from the production of tobacco and alcohol products and the regulatory function related to protecting the public in issues related to the production of alcohol, previously handled by the Bureau of Internal Revenue as well as by ATF, was transferred to the newly established Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), which remained within the Treasury Department. These changes took effect January 24, 2003.

## Structure

### Director

* Chief of Staff
* Chief Counsel

### Deputy Director (Chief Operating Officer)

* Office of Field Operations
* Office of Human Resources and Professional Development
* Office of Management
* Office of Enforcement Programs and Services
* Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations
* Office of Public and Governmental Affairs
* Office Science and Technology
* Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information

## ATF Field Offices

* Albany Field Office
* Albuquerque Field Office
* Anchorage Field Office
* Ann Arbor Field Office
* Atlanta Field Office
* Austin Field Office
* Baltimore Field Office
* Baton Rouge Field Office
* Beaumont Field Office
* Billings Field Office
* Birmingham Field Office
* Bismarck Field Office
* Boise Field Office
* Boston Field Office
* Bowling Green Field Office
* Bridgewater Field Office
* Bristol Field Office
* Brownsville Field Office
* Buffalo Field Office
* Burlington Field Office
* Camden Field Office
* Cape Girardeau Field Office
* Charleston, SC Field Office
* Charleston, WV Field Office
* Charlotte Field Office
* Chattanooga Field Office
* Cheyenne Field Office
* Chicago Field Office
* Cincinnati Field Office
* Clarksburg Field Office
* Cleveland Field Office
* Colorado Springs Field Office
* Columbia Field Office
* Corpus Christi Field Office
* Dallas Field Office
* Denver Field Office
* Des Moines Field Office
* Detroit Field Office
* Downers Grove Field Office
* Dublin Field Office
* El Centro Field Office
* El Paso Field Office
* Eugene Field Office
* Fairview Heights Field Office
* Falls Church Field Office
* Fargo Field Office
* Fayetteville Field Office
* Flagstaff Field Office
* Flint Field Office
* Fort Lauderdale Field Office
* Fresno Field Office
* Ft. Worth Field Office
* Glendale Field Office (Los Angeles Division)
* Grand Rapids Field Office
* Lansdale Field Office
* Laredo Field Office
* Las Vegas Field Office
* Lexington Field Office
* Little Rock Field Office
* London Field Office
* Long Beach Field Office
* Long Island Field Office
* Louisville Field Office
* Lubbock Field Office
* Macon Field Office
* Madison Field Office
* Manchester Field Office
* Martinsburg Field Office
* McAllen Field Office
* Memphis Field Office
* Merrillville Field Office
* Miami Field Office
* Milwaukee Field Office
* Missoula Field Office
* Mobile Field Office
* Montgomery Field Office
* Nashville Field Office
* New Haven Field Office
* New Orleans Field Office
* New York City Field Office
* Newark Field Office
* Norfolk Field Office
* Oakland Field Office
* Omaha Field Office
* Orlando Field Office
* Oxford Field Office
* Pensacola Field Office
* Philadelphia Field Office
* Phoenix Field Office
* Pittsburgh Field Office
* Plano Field Office
* Portland, ME Field Office
* Portland, OR Field Office
* Providence Field Office
* Puerto Rico Field Office
* Raleigh Field Office
* Rapid City Field Office
* Reading Field Office
* Reno Field Office
* Richmond Field Office
* Riverside Field Office
* Roanoke Field Office
* Rochester Field Office
* Rockford Field Office
* Sacramento Field Office
* Salt Lake City Field Office
* San Antonio Field Office
* San Diego Field Office
* San Francisco Field Office
* San Jose Field Office
* Santa Ana Field Office
* Savannah Field Office
* Seattle Field Office
* Sherman Field Office
* Shreveport Field Office
* Sioux City Field Office
* Sioux Falls Field Office
* Spokane Field Office
* Springfield, IL Field Office
* Springfield, MA Field Office
* Springfield, MO Field Office
* St. Louis Field Office
* St. Paul Field Office
* Stockton Field Office
* Syracuse Field Office
* Tallahassee Field Office
* Tampa Field Office
* Toledo Field Office
* Trenton Field Office
* Tucson Field Office
* Tulsa Field Office
* Tyler Field Office
* Waco Field Office
* Washington Field Office
* West Palm Beach Field Office
* Wichita Field Office
* Wilkes-Barre Field Office
* Wilmington, DE Field Office
* Wilmington, NC Field Office
* Yakima Field Office
* Youngstown Field Office

## See Also

* ATF Special Response Teams: The ATF SWAT/tactical teams