Two Republican senators are calling for urgent accountability inside the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after exposing what they say was a widespread scheme to misclassify employees and unlawfully inflate federal salaries — a scheme that allegedly continued under the Biden administration and rewarded those responsible with promotions.
According to a letter sent Friday to Attorney General Pam Bondi and ATF acting Director Daniel Driscoll, Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst say senior ATF officials knowingly bypassed federal pay classification rules, improperly awarding law enforcement-level salaries and benefits to administrative staff. The misconduct wasted millions in taxpayer dollars, the senators argue — and worse, the agents who approved the scheme were allegedly promoted, not punished.
“ATF staff assigned to these positions performed administrative work but unlawfully received enhanced law enforcement pay and benefits,” the senators wrote, citing two internal investigations: one from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) completed in 2020, and another by ATF’s Internal Affairs Division (IAD) in early 2024.
Despite the OPM’s 2020 suspension of ATF’s classification authority — only lifted in 2023 — agency officials allegedly continued to misclassify job roles, ignoring federal directives and standards.
Who’s involved
Grassley and Ernst single out two supervisory agents by name: Lisa Boykin and Ralph Bittelari. According to internal ATF findings, both knew they were violating rules but allowed the scheme to continue. Worse, they’re accused of retaliating against whistleblowers who tried to expose the fraud.
In one documented case, Boykin and Bittelari greenlit a relocation from Phoenix to D.C. for a misclassified position, despite being told it was improper. After initially agreeing to cancel the move, Bittelari allegedly changed his mind after consulting with Boykin — and then attempted to hide the relocation by sending the promotion directly to payroll.
In another case, Bittelari allegedly threatened a human resources specialist with insubordination after she refused to sign off on the classification of a non-law enforcement role as eligible for enhanced pay.
Emails uncovered during the investigation also suggest Boykin misled internal investigators, claiming ignorance about whether an employee had already assumed a position before it was approved — even though records show she had already been working closely with the individual and helped draft the job description.
From scandal to promotions
According to the senators, Boykin and Bittelari weren’t disciplined — they were elevated. Boykin was promoted under President Biden to chief diversity officer and, as of January, is listed as a Senior Executive. Bittelari became a senior advisor at the Justice Management Division and was later named acting deputy director of human resources.
“This is a textbook case of federal abuse: clear violations of classification rules, retaliation against whistleblowers, waste of taxpayer money — and then promotions for the perpetrators,” a GOP Senate aide told Fox News.
Calls for justice
Grassley and Ernst are now demanding the Justice Department take action to remove Boykin and Bittelari from leadership roles and submit a response on corrective measures by May 23. They argue that these officials should not continue to hold positions of authority after “gross misconduct” that harmed both agency credibility and taxpayer finances.
This isn’t the first time the ATF has landed in hot water. The agency was previously accused of “circumventing” Trump’s executive orders aimed at limiting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) spending in federal agencies — and some of the officials involved in the misclassification scandal were also overseeing DEI programs.
Stonewalling begins
Neither the ATF nor the Justice Department responded to Fox News’ requests for comment. But inside Washington, the controversy is already adding fuel to ongoing efforts to rein in federal agencies accused of politicization, waste, and abuse.
“This isn’t just a personnel matter,” said a Trump administration source familiar with the investigation. “This is the deep state in action — rewarding people for defying the law and punishing anyone who speaks up.”
With a Republican-led Senate judiciary and a DOJ now helmed by Trump ally Pam Bondi, the Biden-era ATF may soon face a reckoning. Whether disciplinary action is forthcoming — or stonewalled again — remains to be seen.
