Audit Of The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Use of Incomegenerating, Undercover Operations.

摘要

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is responsible for the investigation and prevention of federal offenses involving the unlawful use, manufacture, and possession of firearms and explosives, acts of arson and bombings, and illegal trafficking of alcohol and tobacco products. In conducting its undercover operations, ATF may participate in transactions that are normally prohibited by federal law. In most of these illicit transactions, ATF uses appropriated funds to make any purchases and deposits any proceeds into the Department of the Treasurys General Fund. However, in 2004, ATF was granted the same authority previously provided to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to use proceeds generated from these undercover operations to offset necessary and reasonable operational expenses related to the same operations. ATF refers to this authority as churning authority, and to cases that use such authority as churning investigations. To date, the ATF has used this authority only to investigate tobacco diversion, which involves efforts to evade state, local, or federal tobacco taxes.