(José Niño, Headline USA) The ATF improperly classified dozens of administrative positions as law enforcement roles, which allowed paper-shufflers to collect higher salaries and retirement benefits at the taxpayers’ expense, according to a scandal uncovered by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, and Joni Ernst, R-IA.
On Monday, the two senators sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, ATF Acting Director Daniel Driscoll, and Assistant Attorney General Jolene Ann Lauria. The letter outlines serious misconduct within the ATF and the Justice Department, specifically regarding the illegal misclassification of administrative positions as law enforcement roles.
According to the letter, the ATF misclassified human resources and administrative positions as law enforcement roles, allowing employees in these positions to illegally receive enhanced law enforcement pay and benefits.
Senior ATF officials, including HR Division Chief Ralph Bittelari and Deputy Assistant Director Lisa Boykin, were accused of knowingly falsifying and fraudulently certifying government records to support the misclassification.
Well, well, well. The only solution to this nonsense is ABOLISH THE ATF & REPEAL THE NFA!
Those who want to "reform" the agency are morons. pic.twitter.com/WtT00jzEwW
— American Firearms Association (@2A_Freedom) May 13, 2025
The senators alluded to unreleased government audits and internal investigations that found the pair engaged in “gross and substantial waste, fraud and abuse,” including potentially criminal false certification of government records and retaliation against whistleblowers.
Per the senators, Boykin and Bittelari approved the reclassification of dozens of administrative positions as law enforcement roles, which allowed employees to collect higher salaries and enhanced retirement benefits.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and ATF Internal Affairs Division confirmed the misconduct, finding that at least 108 positions were improperly classified between 2016 and 2021.
The illegal scheme cost taxpayers approximately $20 million over five years, with whistleblowers alleging the actual cost could be in the hundreds of millions due to relocation expenses and other factors.
Throughout this process, whistleblowers who exposed the misconduct faced retaliation, including demotions, damage to their reputations, and career setbacks.
Despite evidence of gross misconduct, the letter highlighted that ATF and DOJ leadership failed to take corrective action and instead promoted the officials involved in the scheme.
Additionally, the senators argued that the misclassification scheme undermined the ATF’s ability to carry out its law enforcement mission by relocating law enforcement officers to administrative roles.
The letter calls for immediate corrective action, accountability for the officials involved, and justice for whistleblowers who faced retaliation. It also requests a comprehensive review of ATF field offices to ensure taxpayer dollars are not wasted on illegally paying enhanced benefits to employees performing administrative duties.
“The Biden administration’s ATF illegally lined employees’ pockets with tens-of-millions of taxpayer dollars,” Grassley said in a statement. “These Washington bureaucrats must answer for their misconduct, and if heads don’t roll, nothing will change.”
Ernst echoed the call for accountability, saying, “It is unacceptable that the Biden administration looked the other way while ATF bureaucrats knowingly defrauded taxpayers to pad their salaries. These desk jockeys pretending to be law enforcement officers are about to get a crash course in the law.”
Grassley and Ernst are demanding that Attorney General Pam Bondi and Acting ATF Director Daniel Driscoll respond by May 23 with a plan for corrective action. “Federal employees are not above the law and stealing tax dollars is a crime,” Ernst declared.
Whether the Justice Department will take action or let the controversy fade remains to be seen, but senators have made it clear that the days of unchecked bureaucratic waste must end.
The ball is now in the Justice Department’s court as the nation waits for answers — and justice — in the wake of this costly scandal.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
