They weren’t “promoted,” they were “laterally transferred.”
That’s what the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said on Wednesday to rebut reports that it had promoted three supervisors involved in Operation Fast and Furious.
Former Field Operations Deputy Assistant Director William G. McMahon and Phoenix Field Office special agents William D. Newell and David Voth, three key supervisors in the Phoenix-based operation, were reassigned “from operational positions and moved into administrative roles, they were not promoted,” the ATF said in a statement.
The agency added that the supervisors didn’t receive salary increases or assume positions with greater responsibility and none of the documents announcing the transfers described them as promotions.
The Los Angeles Times first reported the personnel switch Tuesday and defended its reporting the next day, saying that three ATF employees had characterized the moves as promotions on Monday, before the statement was released. It also cited an announcement sent out by ATF acting Director Kenneth E. Melson that praised McMahon for the “skills and abilities” he demonstrated throughout his career.
ATF public affairs didn’t return calls for comment that day, the Times reported.
But on Wednesday, the ATF said that “media reports inaccurately characterized personnel changes … as promotions.”
ATF’s statement also followed questions from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which had asked the agency to clarify whether the men were promoted.
McMahon was reassigned to a long-vacant position with the Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations on May 13, the release said.
Newell, who had originally been selected as an agency attaché in Mexico City, was instead moved on Aug. 1 to the Office of Management to assist with investigations into Fast and Furious. And Voth was transferred to a headquarters position as branch chief for the ATF’s tobacco division.
