Do ATF Special Agents Go To Inaugural Balls?

The headline poses an interesting question. One would assume or just maybe hope that special agents working for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives would be non-political or even apolitical. They are considered “Further Restricted Employees” under the Hatch Act.

In the case of Biden’s nominee to head BATFE, that would be a wrong assumption.

Below you can see David Chipman with his fiancee’ Tara at a presidential inaugural ball in 2009 for President Barrack Obama. While probably not a violation of the Hatch Act, it is a bit unseemly.

In January 2009, Chipman was still the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Division. A couple of months later he got a promotion to a SAC position in the Washington headquarters. I’m sure it is just a coincidence.

Would it surprise anyone to know that Chipman is such a non-believer in OpSec that I was able to find his home address, its Zillow value of $874,000, Facebook pages for him, his now-wife Tara, his ex-wife Micki, and his two kids.