Army secretary replaces Patel as head of ATF

WASHINGTON — Kash Patel, the FBI director, has been removed as the interim head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and replaced by Daniel Driscoll, the Army secretary, four people with knowledge of the switch said Wednesday. The highly unusual move places a civilian military leader in charge of a domestic law enforcement entity.

White House officials decided to make the switch in late February, just after Patel was named the ATF’s director, because the responsibilities of running two agencies were seen as too time-consuming, according to an official briefed on the situation. Driscoll was selected because he was one of the few Senate-confirmed Trump appointees available to take over, the person said.

Driscoll, an Iraq War veteran who is close to Vice President JD Vance, learned over the past week that he was being handed the reins of the small, embattled federal agency responsible for enforcing the nation’s gun laws, officials said.

Driscoll was traveling in Germany on Wednesday and was not immediately available for comment. But a Defense Department official confirmed that Driscoll had assumed interim leadership of the ATF with very little notice in recent days. The official did not know exactly when Driscoll had assumed his additional duties.

A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.