B. Todd Jones, nominated to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, faces a claim that he retaliated against a whistleblower. (Associated Press)
B. Todd Jones, President Obama's nominee for director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was conducting his nomination hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, June 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
B. Todd Jones, President Obama's nominee for director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was conducting his nomination hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, June 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
**FILE** House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, California Republican, hears Sept. 20, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington from Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department's internal watchdog, the day after he issued a report faulting the department for disregard of public safety in "Operation Fast and Furious," the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' program that allowed hundreds of guns to reach Mexican drug gangs. (Associated Press)
** FILE ** Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz goes before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee a day after he faulted the department for disregard of public safety in "Operation Fast and Furious," the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' program that allowed hundreds of guns to reach Mexican drug gangs, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012. While the IG's report confirmed findings by Congress' investigation of misguided strategies, errors in judgment and management failures in "Fast and Furious", it did not find direct fault with Attorney General Eric Holder, who had been directly targeted by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the committee's chairman. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, California Republican, hears Sept. 20, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington from Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department's internal watchdog, the day after he issued a report faulting the department for disregard of public safety in "Operation Fast and Furious," the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' program that allowed hundreds of guns to reach Mexican drug gangs. (Associated Press)
**FILE** House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, California Republican, hears Sept. 20, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington from Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department's internal watchdog, the day after he issued a report faulting the department for disregard of public safety in "Operation Fast and Furious," the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' program that allowed hundreds of guns to reach Mexican drug gangs. (Associated Press)
Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, grills U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. (in foreground) on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' controversial gun-smuggling tactics during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011. (T.J. Kirkpatrick/The Washington Times)
**FILE** Kenneth E. Melson, former director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) (Associated Press)
