ATF Director B. Todd Jones is stepping down effective March 31, “to pursue opportunities in the private sector,” according to a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive.
Jones has been ATF director since August, 2013, the first to be confirmed by the Senate.
He took over the agency in the wake of a scandal over the ATF’s management of a gun trafficking investigation known as “Fast and Furious.” Agents had allowed suspected cartel traffickers to buy thousands of firearms, many of which ended up in Mexico. At least two were found at the scene of a shootout that killed a Border Patrol agent.
ATF Deputy Director Thomas Brandon will serve as acting director.
Attorney General Eric Holder said that while leading ATF Jones “has made bold changes, advanced forward-looking policies, and taken innovative steps to strengthen ATF’s investigative capabilities—including ballistic imaging technology that recently played a critical role in the investigation of the shooting of two police officers.”