Message from Director Brad A. Buckles - 30th Anniversary of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms

Washington, DC - Thirty years ago, a new bureau was established in the Treasury Department. The Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Division of the Internal Revenue Service suddenly became the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the simple three letter "ATF" was adopted as its acronym. The move took a small unit that made up only about 4 percent of the mammoth IRS workforce and gave it independence. It was a hugely important event that created an agency that serves this Nation in a proportion well beyond our size. Yet it happened on a Saturday in empty IRS offices around the country without a sound. Even before July 1, 1972, ATF already operated with an unusual degree of independence within IRS. ATF criminal investigators were not part of the IRS Criminal Investigations Division, but operated within separate ATF units within the larger IRS field structure. These units also included inspectors, and plant officers working the ATF mission. So there was no great upheaval. Employees went home on Friday as IRS employees and came in Monday as ATF employees with all the same work waiting for them. All of the real changes came over time as we learned how to operate without the support of the IRS.

The ATF we know today took shape in those last few years in IRS with passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the Federal explosives laws in 1970. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the IRS was a unique unit that had mastered the ability to simultaneously regulate legitimate commerce in a product, while attacking illegal commerce in the contraband version of the same commodity. This uncommon set of skills, honed in an era of moonshine liquor, was exactly what was needed to enforce the new Federal gun and explosives laws.

I have been with ATF for 28 of the 30 years and look back with tremendous pride on what this agency has accomplished. I have watched as ATF has developed unparalleled subject matter experts in all areas - alcohol, tobacco, firearms, explosives, and arson. The great value that ATF brings to the table is a function of this high level of expertise that is leveraged by our ability to partner with others. Harry Truman once said, "It's amazing how much can be accomplished when you don't worry about who gets credit," and ATF is a great example of that principle. Our willingness to share our expertise and resources, while not insisting on the credit, has been a defining aspect of our culture.

Our mission dates us back to the first years of this Nation when alcohol taxes were first imposed to pay off the war debt from the Revolutionary War. Our support activities are the only part of the agency that is truly 30 years old today. We began with no office of management, no technology staff, no training staff, and no internal inspection unit. Today, ATF sets the standard in many of these areas.

Whether it's Project Safe Neighborhoods, the collection of $14 billion in revenue, the National Church Arson Task Force, fighting terrorism through our explosives laws, or setting the standard on the way we equip and train employees, ATF stands proud at 30 years old. The key to our future is the continuation of this tradition of value and service to the American public.

Click to view the History of ATF.