the atf, which is now under the leadership of acting director todd jones has implemented a number of key reforms and critical oversight procedures to prevent such a flawed operation from occurring again. these reforms are numerous and include a number of things. i'm also pleased to report under the leadership of the departmented criminal division we've bolstered crime fighting capacity on both sides of the u.s.-mexico border. we have done this by doing a number of important things as well. this is an important start but we have to do a lot more. no one knows this better than the members of our nation's law enforcement community including -- i want to emphasize this, including atf agents who testified before this committee last summer. not only did these brave agents bring the inappropriate and misguided tactics of fast and furious to light, they also sounded the alarm for more effective laws to combat gun trafficking and improve public safety. these courageous agents explained that atfs ability to stem the flow of guns from the united states into mexico suffers from a lack of effecti

todd jones has instituted a number of reforms. i want to say the report you put out contains at the back a number of suggestion with regard to reforms. i think, i don't know what the number is, but a substantial number of those have been instituted by todd, among them coming up with ways in which we ensure the trafficking of guns, the gun walking does not occur. more levels of review have to occur. i think also given the fact agent dotson is here we have to find ways people at atf, people who have concerns about atf don't have concern for their careers about surfacing things at atf, so the leadership at atf and ultimately back at headquarters can take necessary corrective actions. but i would salute the minority report for the management changes and policy changes that are included in that report. >> thank you. my time is up. >> thank you. we go to former chair of the committee for five minutes. >> nice seeing you again. >> it's been a while. >> it sure has. it's very interesting, mr. attorney general, for six years i remember whe

todd jones has done a great job and put in place a great number of reforms and has done a lot of the things you are pointing up to there on the atf side but i think you need to have a person with the prestige of a senate confirmation to really run an agency in the way that we would like it to be run. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> i thank the gentleman and thank you for making my point that no one in washington has been held accountable, and with that, we go to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. kelly. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm over here, attorney general. >> okay. >> another cheap seat, i'm afraid. it's not that cheap though. >> you will move up though. >> we appreciate you being here. i know you've gone through a lot of questioning and fact that it's not a political hearing, i a little bit confused because we keep going back to the political sideto me this is about trust, you're the highest ranking law enforcement official in the country, and when the people lose trust in an agency, that's a very difficult thing to recover. if you're going to recover at all. and i go back t

the reforms that have been put in place by todd jones at the atf requires greater supervisory responsibility for approving those things. but even with all those approvals, as i said before, you know, letting drugs walk, letting money walk, that's one thing. but letting guns walk, i simply don't see -- i just don't see how that's an appropriate law enforcement technique. if you balance the potential gain against the potential harm, the harm is too great to justify the use of gun law. >> i ask unanimous consent the gentleman have an additional 30 seconds. >> i thank the gentleman. where do we draw that line, though? there has to be some accountability here. there has to be. and, again, i go back to the very nature, this tactic is actually often -- it's putting law enforcement and the confidential informant arrangements are especially troubling. these folks operated for years. we're taking taxpayer money to pay confidential informants and a very generous lifestyle and seems to be all clandestine, at least in the boston office. the higher ups didn't know anything about it. >> will the gentleman

that's one of the things i talked with about todd jones the acting director in the process of making changes at the atf. >> that is the concern to put in a system and structure to make sure this never, ever happens again. so it doesn't become such a bureaucrattic maze nothing happens, but make sure there's checks and balances, we're not doing entrapment. that it is getting up to your office. if it wasn't getting to your office or something like this before, let's make sure it does in the future days get up to doj. what is the time frame on that for a decision and shift on that that's current? >> i would hope this will something we can do over a matter of short number of months. i think to do this right we need to have buy-in from people who are at atf headquarters, people in the field so they have an ability to express their views so they will accept these are things that will be changes in the way in which they have operated. so i think we're talking about a matter of months before we have those kinds of things in place. todd has made significant changes. he's working real hard at t

senate confirmed head that is different from somebody who acts in an acting capacity, even though todd jones, i think, is doing a great job. we need all of these things in order for atf to be as good as it can be with regard to the work that it tdoes along the border and the decision by whoever to keep this agency not as strong as it possibly might be is something that i think does a great disservice to the american people and certainly to the law enforcement effort that we all think is important. >> mr. chairman, my time has expired. >> i thank the gentleman. and we now go to the gentleman from tennessee, mr. dasholay. will the gentleman yield for five seconds? >> yes, sir. >> attorney general, i would like to make sure we're clear, for two years the president didn't put up a nominee for that position, nor did he take advantage of recess appointments. so i know the gentleman was well meaning, but perhaps ill informed as to the facts related to the director. mr. dayjolay. >> mr. attorney general, thank you for being here. if we resolve nothing else here today, we've made it painfully clear t

now, todd jones, the acting director at atf, has instituted a number of reforms. and i want to say the report you have put out contains at the back a number of suggestions with regard to reform, and i think a substantial number of those have been instituted, um, by todd. um, among them coming up with ways we insure that the trafficking of guns, the gun walking does not occur, that more levels of review have to occur. and i think also significant given the fact that agent dodson's here is we have to have ways in which at atf people who have concerns about atf operations have a greater ability, don't have concerns for their careers about surfacing things within atf so that people, the leadership at atf and, ultimately, back at headquarters can take correct, necessary correct i have actions -- corrective actions. but i would salute the minority report for the management and be policy changes that are included in that report. >> thank you. i see my time is up. >> thank you. we now go to the former chairman of the full committee, mr. burton, for five minutes. >> nice s

todd jones, the acting director at atf, has instituted a number of reforms. the report you have put out contains at the back a number of suggestions with regard to reforms. a substantial number those have been instituted by todd. among them, coming up with ways to ensure that the trafficking of guns does not occur. more levels of review have to occur. also significant is that we have to have ways that those who have concerns about the ability of servicing things so that people, the leadership at atf and ultimately headquarters can take necessary, corrective actions. >> thank you. we now go to mr. burton for five minutes. >> nice seeing you again. >> it has been a while. >> it sure has. it is very interesting, mr. attorney general. for six years, remember when you were with janet reno and the deputy attorney general, and we fought to get documents, and we had a difficult time. the center today that there are certain documents that you will not give us because of the separation of powers. we have been down the road before. and we got them, but we had to threate

todd jones, the acting director at atf, has instituted a number of reforms.he report you have put out contains at the back a number of suggestions with regard to reforms. a substantial number those have been instituted by todd. among them, coming up with ways to ensure that the trafficking of guns does not occur. more levels of review have to occur. also significant is that we have to have ways that those who have concerns about 80 of operations have greater of -- ability of servicing things so that people, the leadership at atf and ultimately headquarters can take necessary, corrective actions. >> thank you. we now go to mr. burton for five minutes. >> nice seeing you again. >> it has been a while. >> it sure has. it is very interesting, mr. attorney general. for six years, remember when you were with janet reno and the deputy attorney general, and we fought to get documents, and we had a difficult time. the center today that there are certain documents that you will not give us because of the separation of powers. we have been down the road before. and we g