Posted on 05/16/2025 4:24:39 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department plans to press ahead with a merger of its two agencies that investigate drug and firearms offenses, though the effort would still need approval from Congress, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
In a meeting on Thursday, officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were informed that the merger could be executed as soon as October, one of the sources said, speaking anonymously because the discussions are not public.
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As part of that plan, the White House is expected to propose consolidating the budgets for both agencies when it releases its full fiscal year 2026 spending proposal, the four sources told Reuters.
Such a move would require congressional approval. Currently, the federal spending law in place explicitly states that no funds appropriated for the ATF can be transferred to other agencies or departments.
A spokesman for the Justice Department referred questions to the White House Office of Management and Budget. A spokesperson for OMB could not be immediately reached.
The proposal to merge the ATF and DEA first surfaced in March, when Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche floated the idea in a memo that proposed a broader series of major structural changes at the Justice Department.
The proposal at the time caught officials in both law enforcement agencies by surprise.
Many aspects of the other re-organization proposals in Blanche's memo, such as breaking up the department's Tax Division and Consumer Protection Branch, have already received a green light and are proceeding, according to an internal email reviewed by Reuters that was sent out earlier this month to employees in the Criminal Division.
A merger of the ATF and...
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Makes sense. That’s the problem...creating new organizations instead of creating a nice big beautiful umbrella.
It does seem to be basically the same area of crime, smuggling, street sales and participants, involving roughly the same elements, one primary agency makes sense.
Put our cowboys in the same rodeo. The power struggles will be fun to watch.
spin them off into wawa stores.
Now hold on!!! Before we go making big changes to the ATF, we need to know that the ATF has deleted all of it’s illegal gun registries!
DEA and ATF both are the garbage dumps of feral government agencies, and that’s saying something.
Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.
That good old bucket continues to leak...
"Come visit us at ATFED!
Alcohol - Tobacco - Firearms - Explosives - Drugs
We're not just a federal bureau, we're a Convenience Store!"
Sounds like a decongestant.
DEA was founded when I was working at a Miami police department.
The DEA Newbies were given a tour of the laboratory where I worked.
Each of them had a NY accent. They could have all been hired from the Sopranos...
And then close them both down.
there’s nothing in the Constitution abut what I can put in my body,
Merge the ATF with the Garbage Truck drivers union.
At least then they would be employed doing something useful for a change.
Makes sense - the ATF was originally part of the IRS for tax purposes - they need to be teamed with an agency designed to fight the bad guys.....and stop being an anti-constitution stand-alone.
“we need to know that the ATF has deleted all of it’s illegal gun registries!”
I’d bet money they haven’t.
” stop being an anti-constitution stand-alone.”
Not gonna happen. What are they going to do with all their SWAT gear?
Well, the first two are drugs anyway.
I think it should be renamed to Guns, Explosives, and Drugs Dept.
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