Andrew Traver

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Traver’s Nomination Sent To The Senate By White House

November 18, 2010 by

This was announced yesterday on the White House’s website:

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release November 17, 2010 Presidential Nominations and Withdrawal Sent to the Senate, 11/17/10
NOMINATIONS SENT TO THE SENATE:

Daniel L. Shields III, of Pennsylvania, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Brunei Darussalam.

Joseph M. Torsella, of Pennsylvania, to be Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform, with the rank of Ambassador.

Joseph M. Torsella, of Pennsylvania, to be Alternate Representative of the United States of America to the Sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations, during his tenure of service as Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform.

Andrew L. Traver, of Illinois, to be Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. (New Position)

WITHDRAWAL SENT TO THE SENATE:

Marsha Ternus, of Iowa, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the State Justice Institute for a term expiring September 17, 2012, vice Robert A. Miller, term expired, which was sent to the Senate on September 13, 2010.

It’s official now. Time to start writing both of your state’s Senators even if they are anti-gun sorts. No letters, faxes, or emails let them say they didn’t hear any opposition to Andrew Traver as the head of ATF.

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ATF – Circling the Wagons

November 17, 2010 by

In my earlier posts on Andrew Traver, I referred to a website and forum run by dissident ATF agents upset with the mismanagement and corruption within BATFE called CleanUpATF.org. The comments from these agents who know or had worked with Traver was that he a nice guy but out of his league as a manager.

That was then and this is now. It looks like even those who were his harshest critics within ATF are circling the wagons and supporting Traver.

The comments from earliest to last:

A new ATF Director has finally been nominated. As expected, the Chicago SAC has been given the nod and officially nominated to the position. The change in leadership is long overdue. We can only hope he will lead this agency into the future and not into the ground, like the last few folks. Also, we can hope that he cleans house in SOD, starting with the Chief and his little shadow, the newly promoted Deputy Chief. Maybe we can get back to the basics and support the everyday working agents out on the street. Please carry this agency into the future.

Don’t get your hopes up. This is all smoke and mirrors. DOJ and the White House have never really tried to find someone for director. Traver is all they half-heartedly put together. He will never pass confirmation. My bet is that he gets a hold put on his nomination within a week.

I would encourage all of us to give Traver our support. He deserves the benefit of the doubt. He has a massive mess to clean up but lets hold out hope that he can do it. He deserves a chance to succeed. There is not much patience left out there so no doubt he does needs to go to work quick.

I think we’ll find out pretty quick if he is the real deal. If the White House put him in the Director’s chair just to keep a seat warm and fend off the critics, we’ll see that immediately. If he comes in and makes moves and decisions and improvements then he’ll do everything that Melson couldn’t or wouldn’t and likely be embraced. I am a little amazed that they left Traver all this baggage that his predessors created but time will tell if he can man up and get things working again. I will say this, if he doesn’t move quick then he’ll be in trouble. The men and women of ATF need results now. If he drags his feet he is going to be viewed as another Truscott-Sullivan-Melson DOJ lap dog. Good luck Traver, bring us back please.

Did he ever remove that ASAC who purchased the Cadillac?

If his first decision is to appoint Martin DD, he’s already lost. Probably trying to fly under the radar, the U. S. Attys office released (over the weekend) that the big NEUTRALITY ACT case Martin supported and solf the Director on, has been dismissed. They did not mention the ONLY thing seized in that huge caper, THE BLACK RHINO HORN. Yes it got Martin press and yes he wasted an entire squads resources and yes he seized NO GUNS. I guess the good news is that he allow us to blow $235000+ like he did on the OTHER big wire case. Great Job.

I think we owe Traver a chance and not be quick to pre-judge. We all ponder what we would do different if we were to replace our boss. Traver is a well educated man and I have to believe that he has seen the decline of this agency over the last few years. Lets give him the benefit of the doubt that he is well intentioned, will seek good counsel, learn from past mistakes and focus on mission. It is about time we have a cop at the helm, the lawyers have proved inadequate and incapable of decision making.

We have NO choice but to give him a chance. Its the right thing to do. BUT He only gets SO LONG to say, “I inherited these problems” before he too will be held accountable. This is OUR Bureau too.

Work fast Mr. Traver. We want you to have success and be a great Director but you have to work fast. Stop the trainwreck and you will be the peoples champ.

One of the first rules of any bureaucracy is that intense infighting is allowed and even encouraged. However, any attack from outside the organization must be resisted at all costs even if it is aimed at someone you despise.

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Big Media – Andrew Who?

November 17, 2010 by 4 Comments

If one was to depend on the mainstream media or big media to know that Andrew Traver had been nominated by President Obama to be the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, you’d be out of luck.

Only two of the 25 largest newspapers in the country have any mention of the Traver nomination. The New York Times had a report on Nov. 15th and originally spelled Traver as “Taver”. They didn’t give much info other than that Traver is the SAC for the Chicago Field Division and that his confirmation would probably be opposed.

Al Kamen had a brief mention of Traver in his In The Loop column yesterday. Kamen’s column was where Traver’s nomination was first floated as a trial balloon back in August. He had this to say about it:

As we mentioned back on Aug. 4, if approved, Traver would be the first-ever Senate-confirmed ATF director. The position had been filled (at the Treasury Department and more recently at Justice) without Senate input. Since the job became Senate-confirmable in 2006, it seems, no one has made it past the watchful eyes of the gun lobby.

Hard to imagine Traver will be approved by the new Senate.

The only mention of Traver’s nomination in the Chicago area was on the WLS-TV, the ABC affiliate. Even then all they did was reprint the relevant parts of the press release from the White House announcing the nomination. No other newspaper or TV/radio station has any mention of Traver on their websites and that includes both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.

So what about the major broadcast and cable networks? Nothing. No ABC, NBC, or CBS. No CNN, Fox, or MSNBC.

One must wonder why Andrew Traver is being treated as such a stealth candidate in the media. Is it because his appointment only matters to the gun culture and the anti-gun rights forces and for the rest of the world it is considered ho-hum news? Or is it because the intent is to sneak Traver through the confirmation process?

Sebastian at Snow Flakes in Hell is of the opinion that Obama is just waiting until Congress goes into recess to make this a recess appointment which wouldn’t require the advice and consent of the Senate. Traver would hold the office until the end of the next  Congress or until the 112th Congress ends in 2012. We’ll just have to wait a few more days and see.

UPDATE: David Codrea agrees with Sebastian on the possibility of a recess appointment for Traver. He goes over the details in his National Gun Rights Examiner column.

UPDATE II: Welcome Instapundit readers and thanks to Glenn for the Instalanche!

Here are links to my earlier posts on Andrew Traver.

NRA on Traver

Brady Center on Traver

Jesse Jackson, Jr. on Traver

Who is Andrew Traver

I Don’t Believe in Coincidences

First Post on Traver

Feel free to post any or all of these blog entries on your favorite forum. Since the Big Media isn’t going to publicize the nomination, it will take an Army of Davids to do it instead. All I ask is that you include a link back to the original.

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NRA Weighs In On Andrew Traver

November 17, 2010 by

This was sent out this morning by the NRA-ILA:

The National Rifle Association Strongly Opposes the Nomination of Andrew Traver to Head BATFE, Calls on President Obama to withdraw the nomination

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Statement from Chris W. Cox, executive director, NRA Institute for Legislative Action

The National Rifle Association of America strongly opposes President Obama’s nomination of Andrew Traver as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). Traver has been deeply aligned with gun control advocates and anti-gun activities. This makes him the wrong choice to lead an enforcement agency that has almost exclusive oversight and control over the firearms industry, its retailers and consumers. Further, an important nomination such as BATFE director should not be made as a “recess appointment,” in order to circumvent consent by the American people through their duly-elected U.S. Senators.

Traver served as an advisor to the International Association for Chiefs of Police’s (IACP) “Gun Violence Reduction Project,” a “partnership” with the Joyce Foundation. Both IACP and the Joyce Foundation are names synonymous with promoting a variety of gun control schemes at the federal and state levels. Most of the individuals involved in this project were prominent gun control activists and lobbyists.

The IACP report, generated with Traver’s help, called on Congress to ban thousands of commonly owned firearms by misrepresenting them as “assault weapons,” as well as calling for bans on .50 caliber rifles and widely used types of ammunition. The report also suggests that Congress should regulate gun shows out of existence and should repeal the privacy protections of the Tiahrt Amendment — all efforts strongly opposed by the NRA and its members.

Traver also participated in an extremely deceptive NBC Chicago report (http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/Assault-Weapons-Surge-in-City-69620227.html) in which he referred to “the growing frequency of gang members and drug dealers using heavy caliber military-type weapons” and described them as if they were machine guns: “Pull the trigger and you can mow people down.” Traver and his agents provided the reporter with a fully automatic AK-47, with which she was unable to hit the target. He then said that stray bullets are “one of the main problems with having stuff like this available to the gangs.”

As the Agent-in-Charge of Chicago’s BATFE office, Traver knows that fully automatic firearms are not available through normal retail channels — the opposite of what was implied in the report.

An agency involved in the regulation of a fundamental, individual right guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution should not be led by an individual with a demonstrated hostility to that freedom. For that reason, the NRA strongly opposes Andrew Traver to head the BATFE and urges President Obama to withdraw this ill-advised nomination.

–NRA–

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Brady Center on Andrew Traver

November 17, 2010 by

This was released yesterday by the gun control lobby aka the Brady Center:

Brady Center Applauds Obama Administration Nomination of ATF Director

Nov 16, 2010

Washington, D.C. – The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence today applauded the Obama Administration’s announcement that a director has been nominated to oversee the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). If confirmed, Andrew Traver – currently Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office of the ATF- would be the agency’s first full-fledged director since 2006.

“We are pleased that President Obama is moving forward with a nominee to lead the ATF. This long-needed appointment is welcome news,” said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Center.

In August, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence issued a report calling on President Obama to name a director to the nation’s top law enforcement agency.

“Three months ago, we urged the President to fill this crucial position,” said Helmke. “This job was left vacant at a time when thousands of Americans were being shot, illegal gun trafficking from here was fueling violence in Mexico, and extremists were turning to guns to wage terrorist attacks. Meanwhile, the director-less ATF had been weakened by understaffing and a serious lack of modern crime-fighting tools.”

If confirmed, Traver would be taking over an agency that is “under siege” by the gun lobby and its allies in Congress. The National Rifle Association and the gun industry are supporting legislation – the misnamed ATF “Reform and Firearms Modernization” Act – that would dramatically weaken ATF’s ability to even further shut down corrupt gun dealers and stop gun traffickers.

“Past ATF directors have been crucial advocates for strong law enforcement authority to combat gun trafficking and gun violence. They have spoken publicly, testified before Congress, and advocated within their Administrations about the need for strong gun laws,” continued Helmke. “If Mr. Traver is confirmed, we are hopeful that he will be a strong voice for the strengthening and effective enforcement of our gun laws.”

I wonder when we will be hearing from Andy Traver’s old friends Kristen Rand and Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center or are they planning to keep that on the “down low.”

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Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. on Andrew Traver

November 17, 2010 by

Yesterday, the office of Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) released this:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rep. Jackson Congratulates Chicago’s Andrew Tarver on Nomination to Head Federal
Agency


Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. issued the following statement on the nomination of Mr. Andrew Traver, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATFE), to be the Bureau’s national director:

“I’m very pleased that Mr. Andrew Traver has been nominated to be Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives at the Department of Justice. I have worked with Mr. Traver over the years and he has served the Chicago Field Division of the ATFE with great distinction. In addition, Mr. Traver has served in key ATFE roles at national headquarters in Washington, DC, and in the San Francisco, New Orleans and Philadelphia Field Divisions. I’ve seen his outstanding work firsthand, and know he will bring extraordinary experience, energy and expertise as Director. I am hopeful that the Senate will confirm Mr. Traver’s nomination tothis vital post as soon as possible.”

In terms of gun control support, Jackson was a co-sponsor of HR 1312 -Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2005. This bill was Rep. Carolyn McCarthy’s effort to reinstate the Clinton  assault weapons (sic) ban which had expired in 2004. This bill died in committee.

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Who Is Andrew Traver?

November 16, 2010 by 13 Comments

Note: Much of this was written two months ago. Yesterday, Obama nominated Traver to be the Director of ATF.

With the pressure from the Brady Campaign along with editorials in the New York Times, the Obama Administration is being pushed to name a permanent Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. ATF has not had a permanent Director since Carl Truscott who resigned in 2006. The leading candidate seems to be Andrew Traver who is currently the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the ATF’s Chicago Field Division.(Traver was nominated yesterday)

Traver at a 2008 news conference with then-Rep. Mark Kirk

I’ve printed speculation about Traver being the leading candidate here and here. According to my tracking software for this blog, I have had numerous visitors from the Department of Justice doing a Google search using “Andrew Traver ATF”. I even had a visitor about two weeks ago (now two months ago) from the Executive Office of the President searching for what was being said about ATF and a new Director. A screen shot of that visit can be seen here. Traver has also been mentioned frequently on the dissident ATF insider’s website CleanUpATF as being the defacto candidate for Director. (And now is the actual candidate.)

So who is Andrew Traver and why should we care?

As noted above, Traver is the SAC of the ATF’s Chicago Field Division. He is an Illinois native and a graduate of Northern Illinois University with a degree in Criminal Justice (summa cum laude). After college, he was commissioned as a Naval officer through Officer Candidate School and served as a gunnery officer on USS Benjamin Stoddard, DDG-22. Upon leaving the Navy in 1987, he joined ATF as a Special Agent.

His ATF career to date is as follows:

  • 1987 – Chicago Field Division, Criminal Investigator and a member of the Entry Control Team.
  • 1993 – Philadelphia Field Division, Group Supervisor
  • 1998 – Assigned to ATF Headquarters, Washington, DC
  • 2000 – Assistant Special Agent in Charge, New Orleans Field Division
  • 2002 – Assistant Special Agent in Charge, San Francisco Field Division
  • 2004 – Special Agent in Charge, Chicago Field Division
  • 2006 – Promoted to Senior Executive Service, still SAC, Chicago Field Division

Personal Life

Traver is married and has three sons in their early to mid teens. He and his family currently live in the Chicago suburb of Naperville.

Traver is a prostate cancer survivor and it seems to have had a profound impact on him as one would well imagine. In 2008, at the age of 44, he was diagnosed with stage T2 prostate cancer. He ended up having a radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) at the Mayo Clinic. Post-surgery and recovery, Traver became active in ZERO- The Project to End Prostate Cancer. He has done presentations for them and has urged all the male agents in his Field Division to be tested.

In addition to his work with ZERO, Traver is the Veterans Outreach Coordinator in the Chicago area for The Mission Continues. This is an organization that works with and supports wounded vets from Iraq and Afghanistan.

From a story about his work with ZERO:

Andrew’s personal and professional relationships with Congressmen Mark Kirk and Jesse Jackson Jr., and Ken Bennett, state director to then-Senator Barack Obama, figured heavily into his recovery. All three men closely followed Andrew’s ordeal from initial diagnosis through the first post-RRP follow up visit to Mayo. He received telephone calls from Congressmen Jackson and Kirk themselves while at Mayo and while recuperating at home. Just prior to and again shortly after his surgery, Andrew and Mr. Bennett met for morale and spiritually uplifting lunches.

 Connections to Joyce Foundation

Traver has significant connections to projects of the notoriously anti-gun Joyce Foundation. The Joyce Foundation provided $675,000 in funding for the International Association of Chiefs of Police – IACP – to put on the 2007 Great Lakes Summit on Gun Violence. Traver was a participant in this meeting along with such gun control notables as Gary Wintemute, Director of UC-Davis’ Violence Prevention Research Program, Nina Vinik and Robyn Thomas of the Legal Community Against Violence, and David Hemenway of the Harvard School of Public Health. There were also a number of representatives from some of the local gun control organizations and a selection of anti-gun politicians and police chiefs including Mayor Richard Daley.

It is important to note that Traver was not a mere attendee at this meeting, he is listed as an advisor to it along with others like Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center and Nina Vinik of LCAV. The acknowledgments thanks the advisers who “worked tirelessly to help us design and accomplish a powerful policy summit by attending many meetings and events and by voicing their invaluable counsel as we moved forward with this important initiative.”

Out of this conference came a report entitled Taking a Stand: Reducing Gun Violence in Our Communities. Contributors to the report included Tom Diaz mentioned above and Kristen Rand of the Violence Policy Center. The report made a number of recommendations which, to put it mildly, are anathema to those who believe in gun rights. Included in the recommendations were:

  • Requiring that all gun sales take place through Federal Firearms License (FFL) holders with mandatory background checks
  • Enacting an effective ban on military-style assault weapons, armor-piercing handgun ammunition, .50 caliber sniper rifles and other weapons that enable criminals to outgun law enforcement
  • Repealing the Tiahrt Amendment, which hinders investigation of illegal gun trafficking
  • Destroying guns that come into police possession once their law enforcement use has ended
  • Mandating safe storage of firearms by private citizens and providing safe facilities where gun owners can store their weapons
  • Mandating reporting of lost and stolen firearms
  • Develop a best practices protocol for voluntary gun surrender programs
  • Congress should restore funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program for state, local and tribal agencies to investigate and prosecute cases of gun trafficking and gun violence
  • The federal government should increase funding to ATF for personnel and technical assistance to combat gun violence
  • Congress should enact legislation to allow federal health and safety oversight of the firearms industry

 Opinion of Traver within ATF

CleanUpATF.org is a forum for dissident ATF agents and staff to vent their frustrations with the organization and with management. Reading the comments there on a regular basis gives you an idea of what the agents in the field think. Their comments on Traver are both revealing and discouraging.

Word is the Vetting process found some pretty scary skeletons in Mr. Travers closet. We are in trouble if this is true. Hopefully Mr. Obama has an alternate plan or we are done. Another 6 months w/o a Director and we will all be carrying Homeland security badges.Word is Mr. Traver has some issues with the truth. More to follow. Guess Steve Martin will be retiring after all. (Oct. 11)

Somebody explain The Andy Traver selection please.Everyone that has worked with him has the same opinion. A nice guy, as vanilla as they come and a marginal performer at every level of his career. The only plus being championed is “at least he’s a gun toter”. In other words, our first AGENT Director. Seriously? We have 2500 agents many of whom are quiet legends, to include reitred prior “gun toters”. With all due respect he had ONLY 2 ASACs under his command, and one was driving a Government owned Cadillac and he DIDN’T notice? She abused her authority and misappropriated funds and is still an ASAC? (Sept 30)

Hearings into ATFs regulatory functions cancelled with allegations looming that Chief Counsels office knowingly and willfully have tried to circumvent Federal law and artificially impact statutory import procedures. If Mr. Melson cannot reign in the Executive leadership with his vast education and experience, what makes anybody think Andy Traver is more capable? (Sept 15)

Somebody please advise when and where Traver had ever been battle tested or command tested? Why is Jim Cavanaugh chiming in on ever commentary? SAC Traver is a decent man but was at best a marginal agent with limited street time, a borderline non-committal supervisor and a non-descript manager. He is middle of the road and doesn’t have an opinion ATF has not told him he was allowed to have. Director? Seriously Mr Obama and Holder? (Aug. 4)

View PostDoc Holiday, on 08 July 2010 – 01:13 PM, said:
Very marginal agent, uninspiring manager. Nuff said. Great guy to have as a neighbor, but has never had an original idea and doesn’t have an opinion that he hasn’t cleared with superiors.
Is this going to be an infusion of Chicago style politics into ATF management? (July 8)

Heard the same thing. Grapevine has it that he was really kissing up to Obama or his folks before and after the election and then strutting around about how he was going to be the next Director.
I have to wonder if he knows Blago. (July 8)

You can add Andy Traver, in Chicago to that list of young, incompetent SAC’s at the age of 40ish. Here is a recent example of his “leadership”! Chicago just held a Fantasy Agent Draft! They took approximately 75% of the Agents, only the ones located in the Chicago land area (because we can’t afford to move anyone) and moved them from group to group based on their popularity with a Supervisor! They even had a pre-draft meeting where the Supervisors were told the rules and order of which they were to make their selections! The Supervisors were able to “protect” 1-2 of their favorite agents (read between the lines: good-old boy-club). The dry erase board went into overdrive as the Supervisors threw agents under the bus and argued with other Supervisors in-order to trade agents! It was the most unprofessional processes you can imagine. Traver threaten discipline on any Supervisor who leaked what actually went on inside the trades! Yet, Traver, his front office team and supervisors thought it was a great idea. At the same time, Traver had his Supervisors meeting where he basically tore up HQ’s and showed his continued disdain and lack of respect for all his bosses. Yet, he wonders why not one of his management team respects him. For that matter, none of Andy’s counterparts (SAC’s) respects him. He leads by example…No interest in ATF nor any respect for bosses! If only the agents could get a dry erase board and select their Supervisors, ASAC’s and SAC. I bet the only survivor would be the Supervisor who just returned from exile, Fargo North Dakota. If only someone in HQ’s gave a damn about the sinking ship in Chicago, they would clear out the front office and all participating Supervisor in this fantasy draft!! (Oct 21, 2009)

 Conclusion

Traver has been the rumored candidate for the Director of ATF from the moment that Obama was elected and now is the nominee in fact. He has been in bed with the anti-gun forces including the Joyce Foundation since the moment he became the Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Field Division. As seen by the comments above, he is not widely respected by the ATF field who consider him a nice enough guy but marginal when he was in the field and even more marginal as a manager.

Traver makes a nice personal interest story and I’m glad his cancer is in remission. That said, I don’t want someone like him in charge of ATF and I sincerely doubt he would clean out the culture of corruption that seems to exist in ATF’s management. It is time for the Senate to just say no.

UPDATE: Other blog’s take on Traver

The Truth About Guns plus this earlier post

Sipsey Street Irregulars (who first broke the story back in July)

SnowFlakesInHell

Armed and Safe

St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner


National Gun Rights Examiner

Void Where Prohibited

Dad29

Extrano’s Alley 

Eyes Never Closed plus this

Of Arms and the Law

Sharp As A Marble 

View From North Central Idaho

The Breda Fallacy

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I Don’t Believe in Coincidences When it Comes to ATF and Obama

August 9, 2010 by 1 Comment

On August 3rd, the Brady Campaign released a report chastising Obama for lack of leadership on gun issues. They specifically criticize him for not naming a Director for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

Eighteen months into his presidency, Barack Obama has left vacant the critical position of Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) – the agency charged with enforcing federal gun laws. President Obama’s failure to fill this crucial position is part of a continued lack of leadership on gun policy from the White House and an abdication of the President’s responsibility to protect families and communities from gun violence.

The failure to nominate an ATF director for over a year and a half is unprecedented and threatens our nation’s ability to combat gun crime and trafficking that arms criminals and terrorists. No other President has allowed this critical position to remain vacant for so long.

The next day, Al Kamen in his In The Loop column for the Washington Post,  floats the name of Andrew Traver, Special Agent In Charge of the Chicago Field Office of ATF. Kamen notes,

If approved, Traver would be the first-ever Senate-confirmed ATF director. The position had been filled (at the Treasury Department and more recently at Justice) without Senate input. Since it became Senate-confirmable in 2006, seems no one has made it past the watchful eyes of the gun lobby.

Kamen was named as one of the 50 best journalists in Washington by the influential Washingtonian Magazine. They note “The top reporter on the region’s top employer–the federal bureacracy–Kamen and his In the Loop column often seem to know what’s going on in government better than the Office of Management and Budget.” If you are going to leak the name of a potential nominee, who better to give it to?

The Ticklethewire.com website which covers Federal law enforcement also noted the possible nomination of Traver. They said their sources indicated that Traver had expressed an “intense interest in the job” and that two members of the Illinois congressional delegation had written letters in support of him for the job.

Then they add this recommendation for Traver,

“He’s an experienced special agent with more than 20 years,” former ATF official James Cavanaugh, who recently retired after 33 1/2 years with the agency, told ticklethewire.com. “He’s a good leader. He’s quiet. He’s strong. He certainly has the battle scars of law enforcement and law enforcement command.”

“I think he would be a good pick because he’s not a political person.”

That would be James “Waco Jim” Cavanaugh who is endorsing Traver and to his suggestion that Traver is not political, I say bullshit. One does not get to be the SAIC of a major ATF field office without being something of a politician. That goes doubly true when you are talking about a city like Chicago run by anti-gunners.

I noted another blog mentioned Traver as the possible ATF Director on July 3rd. On July 28th, I noticed someone from the U.S. Department of Justice had read that story on this blog. They had used a Google search with the key words “andy traver atf and joyce foundation”. You can see the Sitemeter screen capture here.

As I said in the title of this post, I don’t believe in coincidences. You have the Bradys criticizing Obama for not naming a Director for ATF and then the next day it is leaked that Andrew Traver is considered the leading candidate. Barely a week earlier, someone from DOJ was checking out my blog to see what had been written about Traver. I think someone in the Obama Administration or DOJ is either floating a trial balloon to see if they get any flak or they are signaling to the Bradys that they are about to appoint a strong anti-gunner as head of ATF.

Traver’s ties to the Joyce Foundation and anti-gun politicians will be left to a latter post.