Ace of Spades HQ

August 30, 2011

Another Shock: Obama's White House Reassigns Acting ATF Director Ken Melson
— Ace

You might think he was reassigned because of the Gunwalker scandal.

Possibly.

More likely, it's because he was testifying to Congress about the Gunwalker scandal.

Based on the vague title, it sounds like the new job is a demotion.

ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson is being moved out of the top job at the Bureau, ATF Special Agents in Charge announced during a conference call with reporters today. He will transfer to the Justice Department and assume the position of senior advisor, Office of Legal Programs.

Senior "advisor"? Office of Legal Programs?

From a description of the office in a job-vacancy advertisement, I find this:

The Office of Legal Programs and Policy supports the United States Attorneys' Offices by administering programs and providing policy guidance and support for long-term and ongoing issues. As part of the Office of Legal Programs and Policy, the Legal Programs Staff provides support in the areas of affirmative civil enforcement, appellate issues, health care fraud, asset forfeiture, bankruptcy, bankruptcy fraud, civil defensive issues, domestic violence, electronic case filing, and environment.

So it's a back-office support thing, and Melson will be an "advisor" to it.

Melson's move is another in a number of high-level personnel shifts, as the Inspector General continues investigating the so-called gunwalker scandal at the Justice Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The "so-called gunwalker scandal." Neither word is a "so-called" thing. It was a gunwalking program, and it is a scandal.

CBSNews isn't sure about one of those so-called "words," though.

Posted by: Ace at 08:47 AM | Comments (76)
Post contains 274 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Smart move on Holders part. That should shut Melson up...

Posted by: The terrorist Hobbit formerly known as Donna at August 30, 2011 08:49 AM (OVCfn)

2 Typical handling by the so-called "mainstream media."

Posted by: Keith Arnold at August 30, 2011 08:50 AM (Jdtsu)

3 Hum? Seems to me that that wall may be crumbling.

Posted by: nevergiveup at August 30, 2011 08:50 AM (i6RpT)

4 He will transfer to the Justice Department and assume the position of senior advisor, Office of Legal Programs.

Yep, that's a demotion. Wonder if he took a pay cut just to rub in the "lesson".

Posted by: Deathknyte at August 30, 2011 08:51 AM (VwUPm)

5 It's a 24x7 position, they'll allow him brief walks in the lunchroom after hours.

Posted by: JEM at August 30, 2011 08:52 AM (o+SC1)

6 Senior "advisor"? Office of Legal Programs?

The bureaucratic equivalent of being sent to Siberia. This is a shot across the bow and a warning to any other potential whistleblowers at ATF.

Posted by: Nighthawk at August 30, 2011 08:53 AM (OtQXp)

7 Nice to know that there are protections in place for whistleblowers and that he wasn't being retaliated against.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 30, 2011 08:54 AM (7M8NG)

8 Barack Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) is tired beyond tired of the trolls at August 30, 2011 08:54 AM (8y9MW)

9 Another day, another scandal, another coverup brilliantly executed by the media.

The stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure is one lucky sumbish. If he had to cover up for Eric Shabazz Holder and the rest of the felons in the Osama Obama regime, even his followers would have to see what a fumbling, incoherent fool he really is.

Posted by: MrScribbler at August 30, 2011 08:54 AM (YjjrR)

10 Better not make the questions from Congress get conveniently "redirected" (I.e., ignored). Holder is a snake.

Posted by: Kortezzi at August 30, 2011 08:55 AM (xuOJ8)

11

Ahhh... how time have changed....

Posted by: dan-O at August 30, 2011 08:55 AM (BAjNF)

Hmmm... bet this move puts him back into some type of attorney client privelege situation with the Fed Gov... thus making it harder for Congress, or the Courts, to get him to testify.

Posted by: Romeo13 at August 30, 2011 08:55 AM (NtXW4)

Office of Legal Programs

Just asking for a bit of clarification here --

Does this office deal with matters pertaining to the law and the justice system, or is the office that oversees those ATF programs that are in accordance with the law?

Posted by: FireHorse at August 30, 2011 08:55 AM (RZRz9)

14 Remember when the NYT covered up acts of war and international and internal terror by our ENEMIES? Good times, good times. No, seriously, by comparison, good times.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at August 30, 2011 08:56 AM (bxiXv)

15 Posted by: FireHorse at August 30, 2011 12:55 PM (RZRz9)

My bet? The latter.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) is tired beyond tired of the trolls at August 30, 2011 08:56 AM (8y9MW)

I'm sure he's glad that nobody's invited him to take a walk in Fort Marcy Park to celebrate his continued employment.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Hobbit at August 30, 2011 08:56 AM (4df7R)

17 Well, I'm glad we got that cleared up without embarrassing the White House.

Posted by: WalrusRex at August 30, 2011 08:57 AM (Hx5uv)

See, Nixon fired Archibald Cox, wheras Barry just reassigned Melson, so it is totally different.

Posted by: Charlie Gibson has heard this one before at August 30, 2011 08:57 AM (0N5pL)

19 Keeping their enemies closer.

Posted by: baldilocks at August 30, 2011 08:57 AM (T2/zQ)

20 So, he goes to the justice Dept.? Thats kind of like sitting your misbehaving child next to you at the dinner table. When they are close, they are easier to backhand.

Posted by: Oldsailor's poet at August 30, 2011 08:57 AM (ZDUD4)

21 CNN POLL: 27% of registered Democrats want their party to nominate someone other than Obama.

Posted by: CAC at August 30, 2011 08:58 AM (JEVge)

Does this office deal with matters pertaining to the law and the justice system, or is the office that oversees those ATF programs that are in accordance with the law?

Posted by: FireHorse at August 30, 2011 12:55 PM (RZRz9)

Good question. I didn't think of it that way.

Posted by: Deathknyte at August 30, 2011 08:58 AM (VwUPm)

23 I smell sunshine and rainbows!

Posted by: the MFM (with it's face buried in Teh One's ass) at August 30, 2011 08:59 AM (pMGkg)

24 >> Remember when the NYT covered up acts of war and international and internal terror by our ENEMIES? They're far too busy with their war against Darrell Issa. The Times is losing badly.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 30, 2011 08:59 AM (TMB3S)

25 My bet? The latter.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) is tired beyond tired of the trolls at August 30, 2011 12:56 PM (8y9MW)

That's my guess as well. They make him the head of legal oversight, so guess who gets to be the first one hammered the *next* time there are allegations of illegal activity at Justice.

Nice touch.

Bastards.

Posted by: Nighthawk at August 30, 2011 08:59 AM (OtQXp)

26 Posted by: CAC at August 30, 2011 12:58 PM (JEVge)

I'll be excited when that hits 40% (which is the earliest I think a primary challenge even might result).

We all know those 27% will still vote 'D' on election day.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) is tired beyond tired of the trolls at August 30, 2011 08:59 AM (8y9MW)

27 Director of Illegal Pogroms

Posted by: My Sharia Moor at August 30, 2011 09:00 AM (ZY+lZ)

ThereÂ’s a cemetery-worth of corpses made with 0bamaÂ’s Â“operation fast and furiousÂ” guns, and he needs to be held accountable for each and every one.

This is a huge story, and the conservative movement needs to keep it in the spotlight. The coverup is already underway with a complicit MSM, itÂ’s up to all of us to make sure justice is done.

Posted by: Raquel at August 30, 2011 09:00 AM (1wgaP)

29 Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

Posted by: M. Corleone, Spec.Asst. For Italian-American Affairs at August 30, 2011 09:00 AM (tcQsM)

30 I'm sure there are a few 'Rons here that are old enough to remember Nixon and the "Saturday Night Massacre" when Tricky Dick tried to stop the Watergate investigation by firing, IIRC, the prosecutor and his staff. "History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes..."

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 30, 2011 09:01 AM (1+CnU)

31 If I were Melson I'd be checking the brakes in my car regularly and not standing too close to the edges of train platforms. Just sayin'.....

Posted by: Tsar Nicholas II at August 30, 2011 09:01 AM (f8XyF)

32 Lets be Direct

*this would have taken down most administrations.
*this is much larger then watergate

*Despite my skepticism of the gun nuts... why would someone like Holder go through all this trouble, right as he was coming into office? To spark a crisis enabling a leap in gun control is the only current explanation that makes any sense from the POV of the Holder-Jarret interests.

Maybe you think that is wrong and that holder is so concerned about border violence that he already had a plan ready so that right as he came into office he could ramp it up as a clever way to ... to....

1. Government sells guns to Mexican drug cartels
2. American/Mexican citizens and agents murdered
3. sold guns found at crime scenes
4. ?????
5a. no more border violence?
or
5b. media hypes up violence blames gun sellers and owners... a fearful nation submits to higher levels of gun control

Posted by: Shiggz at August 30, 2011 09:01 AM (v8Pb8)

33 OT, but Rush is going to have Dick "Warcock" Cheney on the show at the top of the hour. Should be interesting.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Hobbit at August 30, 2011 09:02 AM (4df7R)

34 You wingnuts keep this in the headlines much longer and I'll have to come off my vacaycay and slap you.

Posted by: Darrell Issa at August 30, 2011 09:03 AM (EL+OC)

35 It's all about covering Obama. Obama is a front man for both the Muslim Brotherhood and Weather Underground. Those in the Federal Government and the Military are just going along with the enemy. They seem clueless that this will affect their children and grandchildren. I want to see whoever gets into the Federal Government next looks at every computer hard drive in and out of Washington, DC. That includes the entire Pentagon. Who do you think murdered the Navy Seals? Obama and his people set them up. IÂ’m not stupid. HeÂ’s a cold blooded psychopath.

Posted by: I'm prolly insane, but not neccessarily wrong. at August 30, 2011 09:04 AM (ZDUD4)

36 I can't find my red stapler, either!

Posted by: Ken Melson Might Burn The Building Down! at August 30, 2011 09:04 AM (2PTT7)

37 Anybody up for a game of ATF monte?

Posted by: dogfish at August 30, 2011 09:04 AM (NuPNl)

38 The so-called president is a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure.

And his so-called AJ.

Posted by: I'm in a New York state of mind at August 30, 2011 09:04 AM (4sQwu)

39 Think of this move as a way to keep a closer watch on his actions so he doesn't give any more unscripted interviews with Congressional Oversight committee's.

Posted by: Gmac at August 30, 2011 09:05 AM (YsxLj)

40 "*Despite my skepticism of the gun nuts..." Sir, you are talking to a gun nut!!

Posted by: right at August 30, 2011 09:05 AM (pMGkg)

41 I won't be satisfied until Holder takes a perp walk along with Melson, and whoever else was involved.

Posted by: Raquel at August 30, 2011 09:05 AM (1wgaP)

42 36, Want to barrow my hello kitty stapler?

Posted by: RU Curious at August 30, 2011 09:05 AM (ZDUD4)

43
Today in MA a 23yo college grad is being put to rest.

Matthew Denice was struck and dragged 1/4 mile by an illegal from Ecuador.

The illegal has a long record of prior incidents.

"When the illegal finally ran off the road, the American became disentangled. He was still alive. But then the illegal backed his truck back over him, according to prosecutors.

Told later heÂ’d killed the young man, Matthew J. Denice, cops say the illegal shrugged."

--Howie Carr

Posted by: soothie at August 30, 2011 09:06 AM (sqkOB)

44 43, But we can'y just deport them all! Yes, yes we can.

Posted by: Oldsailor's poet at August 30, 2011 09:07 AM (ZDUD4)

45 Whistleblowers: DOD official incompetent, wasteful, 'tyrannical'

The militaryÂ’s personnel chief is under fire from Pentagon whistleblowers who have charged Clifford Stanley with incompetence, extravagant spending, cronyism and Â“tyrannicalÂ” management.

Pentagon employees have told DODÂ’s top investigator and senior lawmakers that Stanley spent nearly $400,000 on an Â“incredibly extravagantÂ” conference room and inserted an old friend into a senior post. The whistleblowers also allege that he forced more than 20 senior executives out of his office and conducted electronic eavesdropping on employees.

Obama appointed another slick one.

Posted by: LC LaWedgie at August 30, 2011 09:07 AM (PcoXF)

Soothie:

Heard that on Howie, too. Despicable.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Hobbit at August 30, 2011 09:08 AM (4df7R)

47 They're far too busy with their war against Darrell Issa. The Times is losing badly. Posted by: JackStraw at August 30, 2011 12:59 PM (TMB3S) Same story. Cover-up for the administration.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at August 30, 2011 09:09 AM (bxiXv)

48 Putting on my tinfoil hat, consider just how deep the corruption from the USA/Mexico border must run. Maybe it isn't just a SCOAMF thing, maybe all The Powers That Be (thus the tinfoil hat) are trying to keep the first rock from being turned over and the sunlight from hitting every political figure on both sides of the aisle, half the state and local officials in the country, and a bit of the military to boot. It's enough to keep me drinking heavily.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 30, 2011 09:12 AM (1+CnU)

49 >>Same story. Cover-up for the administration. Yep. But they picked the wrong guy to fight with. Issa is fighting back big time.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 30, 2011 09:16 AM (TMB3S)

50 ACORN? What is this ACORN you speak of?

Posted by: AG Eric Holder at August 30, 2011 09:17 AM (/ZZCn)

51 Yep. But they picked the wrong guy to fight with. Issa is fighting back big time. Posted by: JackStraw at August 30, 2011 01:16 PM (TMB3S) I will give him credit for doing more damage than anyone else. But the glacial pace is making me nervous, even though this is all probably being timed for elections (and to make sure they get as high in the chain as they can), I am impatient. This is so far beyond the pale it's threatening the entire concept of law.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at August 30, 2011 09:19 AM (bxiXv)

52 40 "*Despite my skepticism of the gun nuts..."

Sir, you are talking to a gun nut!!

Ohh no we iz invaded! Seriously, Ive got a concealed license and picked up my springfield xd 9 with night sites just yesterday.

Somehow I once got on an email list of the sort who every week I get an "!11!! Eleventy11!1! " mail from them about some gun grab conspiracy. The problem when you go eleventy on little stuff how do you let everyone know when the real big stuff happens? So thats who I have in mind when I say "gun nuts."

Posted by: Shiggz at August 30, 2011 09:23 AM (v8Pb8)

53 >>I will give him credit for doing more damage than anyone else. But the glacial pace is making me nervous, even though this is all probably being timed for elections (and to make sure they get as high in the chain as they can), I am impatient. I think the delay has more to do with the stonewalling the Obama administration is engaging in. Like this action. Right after Melson testified on this Issa and Grassley sent a letter to Holder telling him not to fire Melson and make him a fall guy. So what does Holder do? Moves him over to Justice where Holder will probably argue he can't be called to testify anymore. This is the sleaziest administration in my lifetime.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 30, 2011 09:29 AM (TMB3S)

I wonder if his new office window faces Ft. Marcy Park?

According to a post on the blog of one of the original guys to break this the next round of hearings should come mid-Sept. or early Oct.

Posted by: Scott J at August 30, 2011 09:31 AM (/bVuS)

Ive got a concealed license and picked up my springfield xd 9 with night sites just yesterday

Nice choice. I finally gave into temptation and bought an XD-9 Service from a friend who was thinning his herd.

I promptly shot my best score with it in IDPA since starting the game last March.

Posted by: Scott J at August 30, 2011 09:33 AM (/bVuS)

56 Sounds like one of those jobs like you got on the Sopranos, where you sit in a lawn chair and drink beer at a construction site for 6 figures.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 30, 2011 09:33 AM (r4wIV)

57
Small point. The scandal is called "gunwalker" by its critics even though it's not the program's official name. So "so-called gunwalker scandal" is passable.

Next, I could really use an explanation of how this would be a punishment for Melson and how it would help anyone involved in the scandal. With all the lying they're willing to do, I don't at all see how moving Melson from Point A to Point B makes a damn bit of difference.

Posted by: arhooley at August 30, 2011 09:35 AM (lCzgJ)

58
More interesting is that Dennis Burke, the AG who ran oversaw Op F&F in Phoenix and who refuses to give Brian Terry's family standing as victims, has resigned effective immediately.

Ace, please ease up on Sharyl Attkisson and "so-called gunwalker scandal." She broke this story when she did the original interview with John Dodson. She's been doing fine work on this story.

Posted by: arhooley at August 30, 2011 09:39 AM (lCzgJ)

59 Mr. Melson had served as the Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, where he was responsible for administrative oversight of the 94 U.S. Attorneys Offices and for liaison between the U.S. Attorneys and other Federal agencies and Department of Justice (DOJ) components.

Posted by: hyperbolicKOS at August 30, 2011 09:48 AM (Cxl7g)

Dennis Burke, the United States Attorney for Arizona since 2009, resigned Tuesday morning.

Burke's resignation, effective immediately, is one of several personnel moves made in the wake of a federal gun-trafficking investigation that put hundreds of rifles and handguns from Arizona into the hands of criminals in Mexico. Burke's office provided legal guidance to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on the flawed initiative called Operation Fast and Furious.

Posted by: hyperbolicKOS at August 30, 2011 09:55 AM (Cxl7g)

61 Is anybody actually in charge of this government .. or are they all out golfing ?

Posted by: hyperbolicKOS at August 30, 2011 09:58 AM (Cxl7g)

62 Right about now should be spill-all-the-beans time.

Posted by: Blacque Jacques Shellacque at August 30, 2011 10:03 AM (1rHeD)

63 Why should Barry or Holder worry about this? The MFM has not only been completely silent on the story but would help in any cover up

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 30, 2011 10:09 AM (1Jaio)

64 Didn't Issa and Grassley, in their letter to Holder after Melson's secret testimony, specifically warn Holder NOT to terminate of reassign Melson? Things must be pretty bad if this was Obama/Holder's only option to shut Melson up and thrown Issa and Grassley off the trail. Don't think this is going to work.

Posted by: BigDaddy1964 at August 30, 2011 10:17 AM (DueYW)

65 "The Office of Legal Programs and Policy supports the United States Attorneys' Offices by administering programs and providing policy guidance and support for long-term and ongoing issues. As part of the Office of Legal Programs and Policy, the Legal Programs Staff provides support in the areas of affirmative civil enforcement, appellate issues, health care fraud, asset forfeiture, bankruptcy, bankruptcy fraud, civil defensive issues, domestic violence, electronic case filing, and environment." Im laymen's terms, this sure sounds like they're putting him in the Legal Department for the AG. Can you say attorney-client privilege Ace? From an Apple Store in Kent, WA.

Posted by: John P. Squibob at August 30, 2011 10:23 AM (CqNrq)

66 More Chicago politics.

Posted by: Molon Labe at August 30, 2011 10:37 AM (e36+G)

WTF. I refuse to wipe my ass from any Newspaper that has boycotted this story. And make no mistake, it is indeed a boycott/blackout here. I get my local rag to make sure I'm not in the obits. Or as we here in Scranton call the the funeral section the "Lace Irish Sports Page".

And see if there is a crackdown on "undocumented Pharmicutical Providers".

The Ragista's finally put the 2 week old story about barrys' uncle so far back and such small in print you'd need a microscope to read it.

Posted by: hutch1200 at August 30, 2011 10:38 AM (m9TjP)

68 From an Apple Store in Kent, WA.

Posted by: John P. Squibob at August 30, 2011 02:23 PM (CqNrq)

Really? Dude, FYI. Lie to us and say you're at the railyards hunting hobos. Or making homemade lesbo pRon.

Posted by: hutch1200 at August 30, 2011 10:40 AM (m9TjP)

69 or are they all out golfing ?

hopefully

Posted by: Jean at August 30, 2011 11:22 AM (WkuV6)

70 Issa getting his pimp hand warmed up ...

U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke, one of the officials closely tied to Fast and Furious, is also a casualty in a shakeup tied to the botched gun-running program. Burke was on the hot seat last week with congressional investigators and, according to several sources, got physically sick during questioning and could not finish his session.

Posted by: Jean at August 30, 2011 11:24 AM (WkuV6)

71 "Posted by: hutch1200 at August 30, 2011 02:40 PM (m9TjP)" Had to take the laptop in for some WTF moments and I'm on the road. Do you know how F*cking hard it is to post on a smartphone?

Posted by: John P. Squibob at August 30, 2011 11:26 AM (CqNrq)

72 Amazingly enough, the new acting ATF director is B. Todd Jones, a person of color. So any criticism of him will be racist by definition. Suck it, wingers!

Posted by: Barack Mugabe-Obama at August 30, 2011 12:00 PM (2PTT7)

Yeah, I'm sorry but... Advisor to the Office of Legal Programs? What the heck do we need an Office of Legal Programs for? I thought we had an Attorney General's office for that. I swear, I'm not being fecetious, when they come out and tell us grannies and soldiers in harms way might not get their checks next month, how about we threaten not to let all the leeches in the Office of Legal Programs not get their checks next month instead.

Did George Washington have an Office of Legal Programs? Did Lincoln?? Did Truman... well yeah, Truman probably did, and it was probably staffed with a bunch of Communists.

It just might be time to start over, folks.

Posted by: Mr. Fire at August 30, 2011 12:32 PM (TOk1P)

74 May be setting up a way to immunnize him or make testimony privileged

This guy is lawyered up but someone has to pay the bills and he seems quite capable of playing both sides to protect himself. He certainly showed no concern for our murdered LE personnel until he was caught in the loop with no way out.

Posted by: chris at August 30, 2011 03:41 PM (SZ7EK)

75 They can't cut him loose because he knows too much. So they keep him on the payroll. A reduced payroll, but still under contract.

Posted by: Cooter at August 30, 2011 03:41 PM (h2/5o)

76 You really make it seem so uderstandable with your presentation but I find this topic before really hard to understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me.

Posted by: Acceptable Loss AudioBook at August 30, 2011 05:01 PM (TiSe5)

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