The Trump administration swapped out its high-profile acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), FBI Director Kash Patel, for its lesser-known Army secretary on Wednesday.
U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was tapped to serve as the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), replacing FBI Director Kash Patel, who was appointed to the role in February, according to a U.S. defense official.
Driscoll was notified of the appointment on Wednesday while traveling in Europe, the defense official told Fox News.
He will fulfill both roles, continuing to serve as the Army secretary while overseeing the ATF.
A source close to Patel told Fox News Digital that the ATF was taken off his plate because he wanted to focus on the bureau.
“It was never supposed to be a long-term thing. He was happy to serve, of course, but his job is the director of the FBI,” the source said.
Hailing from North Carolina, Driscoll, an Army veteran and venture capitalist, was chosen by Trump to serve as secretary of the Army. Driscoll, who is a senior advisor to Vice President JD Vance, fought with the 10th Mountain Division as a cavalry scout platoon leader in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Why was Patel removed?
NBC News Justice and Intelligence Correspondent Ken Dilanian reported Wednesday that ATF officials were “shocked and confused” by the shakeup, but added that sources told him that it had been weeks since Patel was seen inside an ATF facility.
Patel, who has not commented on the ATF switch-up, posted Wednesday evening on the social media platform X that he had spent the day in Florida for an FBI event. He has since posted praise for Attorney General Pam Bondi’s leadership at DOJ regarding the FBI’s efforts and encouraged followers to apply for jobs at the FBI.
Patel is seen as a fiercely loyal ally of Trump and was a divisive pick to lead the FBI. And he was not well received by some ATF veterans.
“It’s pretty demoralizing,” Mark Jones, a former ATF special agent, told The Trace in February. “This guy doesn’t like the ATF and doesn’t believe in firearms regulation. I just see him coming in with a wrecking ball.”
Democrats on the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force last month urged President Trump to replace Patel at ATF, writing, “it is unconscionable that someone without experience fighting crime, responding to mass shootings or confronting domestic terrorism has been named as ATF’s Acting Director.”
Bondi announces ‘second amendment task force’
The National Rifle Association (NRA)’s official account on the social media platform X shared a post from a Reuters reporter about Patel’s removal.
The next post from the NRA account was about a new “Second Amendment Task Force” that Bondi announced Wednesday. The NRA hailed the move as an example of the administration continuing to “deliver on its promise to defend Americans’ 2A rights.”
Bondi wrote in a memo about the task force’s creation that she would chair it, and it would include representation from several agencies in the DOJ, including the ATF. She did not mention Patel.
“The prior administration placed an undue burden on gun owners and vendors by targeting law-abiding citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights,” Bondi said in a statement on the new group.
“The Department of Justice’s new Second Amendment Task Force will combine department-wide policy and litigation resources to advance President Trump’s pro-gun agenda and protect gun owners from overreach.”