Army Secretary Reportedly Takes Reins From Kash Patel At ATF

FBI Director Kash Patel was removed as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) this week and replaced by Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Patel, who had only held the ATF position since late February, will now focus solely on leading the FBI, according to the outlet. Driscoll will serve dual roles, maintaining his post at the Department of the Army while overseeing the ATF — a rare consolidation of federal leadership that has not yet been publicly explained by the Trump administration.

“My mission is your mission and spread it across America and utilize it to defeat the most destructive operation in U.S. history. And that is unelected bureaucrats seizing our constitutional rights from you every single day and chipping away at your freedoms every single day,” Patel said at a Gun Owners of America convention in August. He also characterized the ATF as existing to “wipe out” Second Amendment rights.

Driscoll, a former U.S. Army armor officer who served in Iraq from 2009 to 2010, previously held roles in investment banking, private equity and business operations before being tapped to become Army secretary, according to his profile on the Army’s website. Driscoll “oversees operations, modernization and resource allocation” for in his role at the Army, his profile reads.

The FBI and ATF didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The sudden change comes as the Trump administration considers folding the ATF into the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to streamline overlapping missions and reduce federal spending, Reuters separately reported