U.S.

Department of Justice

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,

Firearms and Explosives

www.atf.gov

July 2, 2021 REFER TO: 2021-0481

VIA Email: wjo@mindspring.com

Dear Mr. Olson:

This responds to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated April 7, 2021, and
received by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on the same day, in
which you requested records concerning notes from January 1, 2021 to present for DIO
Conference Calls.

In response to your request, we have processed a total of 4 pages of responsive material.

We are withholding third party information, including the names of ATF employees, under
FOIA Exemption (b)(6). To disclose personal information about a living individual to a member
of the public, we need the written consent from the persons whose information you requested.
Without written consent, proof of death, or an overriding public interest, personal information is
exempt from disclosure under the FOIA. The FOIA does not require agencies to disclose
information that would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of third
parties (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6)).

We are withholding the specific law enforcement techniques and procedures used in our
investigation pursuant to Exemption (b)(7)(E) of the FOIA. Exemption (b)(7)(E) exempts from
mandatory disclosure records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes when
production of such records or information “would disclose techniques and procedures for law
enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement
investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk
circumvention of the law” (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(E)). The information withheld reveals specific
law enforcement procedures and techniques used in this investigation. Disclosure of such
information could enable individuals outside of the agency to circumvent agency functions and
gain access to sensitive investigative information.

For your information, Congress excluded three discrete categories of law enforcement and
national security records from the requirements of the FOIA. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(c). This
response is limited to those records that are subject to the requirements of the FOIA. This is a
 -2-

Mr. Robert Olson

standard notification that is given to all our requesters and should not be taken as an indication
that excluded records do, or do not, exist.

You may contact our FOIA Public Liaisons, Darryl Webb or Zina Kornegay, at (202) 648-7390,
for any further assistance and to discuss any aspect of your request. Additionally, you may
contact the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) at the National Archives and
Records Administration to inquire about the FOIA mediation services they offer. The contact
information for OGIS is as follows: Office of Government Information Services, National
Archives and Records Administration, Room 2510, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park,
Maryland 20740-6001, e-mail at ogis@nara.gov; telephone at 202-741-5770; toll free at 1-877-
684-6448; or facsimile at 202-741-5769.

If you are not satisfied with my response to this request, you may administratively appeal by
writing to the Director, Office of Information Policy (OIP), United States Department of Justice,
441 G Street, NW, 6th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20530, or you may submit an appeal through
OIP's FOIA STAR portal by creating an account following the instructions on OIP’s website:
https://www.justice.gov/oip/submit-and-track-request-or-appeal. Your appeal must be
postmarked or electronically transmitted within 90 days of the date of my response to your
request. If you submit your appeal by mail, both the letter and the envelope should be clearly
marked “Freedom of Information Act Appeal.”

Sincerely,

Adam C. Siple
Chief
Information and Privacy Governance Division

Enclosure
DIO Conference Call 1/5/2021

DAD Bennett:

• Happy New Year, I hope everyone had a good holiday!

• There have been a few changes to the DIO call invites and how the call will happen. The call will
remain the same day/time but the first two calls of the quarter will be Field Operations only,
DIOs, SACs and staff. The third call of the quarter, EPS, counsel, etc. will be invited to participate
if they wish. The DIO call notes will include policy information only, not internal discussion
points, and they may be shared with whomever has a need to see them. This change is to
facilitate a more open conversation within FO during the FO only calls.
• Regarding the COVID vaccine, some offices have got them and some have not. Chief
(b) (6) is in charge of coordinating the roll out and tracking which personnel have received
them. We are not going to force anyone to get the vaccines. Agents and IOIs are the priority
since they are working in the field.
• IOIs are essential workers, they should be in the field conducting mission critical work. If you
have high risk IOIs who are not doing field work and they do not have enough to keep them
busy, please reach out and we will put them on a remote detail.
• DIO PWPs have been reissued. Please take a look at them. Non-applicable parts regarding
terrorism have been removed and a fifth element about leadership has been added. These are
all things that are currently being done in your job. Please also use this information to develop
14s to prepare them to step into a 15 role. The 14 PWPs will be reviewed and revised next, they
will also include a similar leadership section.
• IOI vacancies - we are almost done with the interviews and the letters will start going out. As of
now, we have 50 offers being extended. This number is obviously before backgrounds so that
number may decline. I was able to get all but 3 candidates a location in their top 5, the other 3 I
tried to keep to the general geographic location.
• I have scheduled a meeting with HR about the next vacancy announcement since we did not fill
all 72 positions. I anticipate the next announcement to be targeted. The Director has approved
an additional 24 IOIs to be hired to help with attrition and retirements.
• I have a meeting with HRPD scheduled to discuss Schedule A applicants and the next vacancy
announcements. I’ll keep you advised as I get more information.
• The newly hired IOIs from this vacancy may not be attending FLETC for IOIBT. Since the
pandemic is pushing the schedules HRPD is working hard to find an alternative location. It is still
a work in progress and I will let you know when I have more information.
• The latest Spartan release includes an update to the acknowledgement with updated links in the
Spartan tool kit today or tomorrow. Also, the Spartan look back tool should be used to query N-
Spect inspections.
• The 30% efficiency in Spartan analysis is being revisited. There will be a new in-depth analysis of
different data points to gain a more accurate efficiency number.
• I have asked(b)(6) to identify new boots for IOIs because the ones on SOLVS do not have a metal
plate in the sole and are not puncture resistant.
 • The tobacco pilot has been completed. Philadelphia is working on completing a briefing paper
that will be presented to the AD and LE DADs.
DC (b) (6)

• We are working with HRPD on refining the process to have FO SMEs assisting in establishing
BQLs. HR is also bringing on additional contractors which should speed up filling these
vacancies.
 average number of hours each type of inspection takes, and modified it to include the
placements from the last announcement, possible upcoming attrition due to retirements, etc.,
and figured out where each office is, percentage-wise, on being able to complete their
mandatory inspections. Knowing there are imperfections to this, I have been having
conversations with you all as needed, if you would like to discuss or have concerns please call
me.
• Currently there are about 63 people placed from the first announcement, however things can
and will shift as we go through the process. Please call to discuss any aspect of the hiring.
• When conducting interviews, please remember that a 3 is equivalent to fully successful on the
evaluation. If there is someone who interviews who is not qualified, please make sure this is
accurately reflected and documented justification is contained in the interview packet. Please
remember the packets are FOIA material so everything must be accurately and thoroughly
documented
• The IOIBT classes this year will be held at NCETR, this will pose some logistical challenges such as
staying off base, no cafeteria, etc. There are a lot of unknowns at this point, but HR is working
on getting things set up. The first class is currently projected for April, everything is still fluid at
this point.
• HRPD is working to figure out which Schedule A applicants meet the minimum qualifications and
then should be able to get us the list.

DIO Carlson – IOI Career Plan/Leadership Guide

• I was asked to be part of a working group for a new IOI career plan. During a recent OPM audit,
it was discovered that the current career plan contained some inconsistencies with OPM rules.
The IOI career plan had some timelines in it which per OPM it cannot have, as only have 52
weeks in a prior grade are necessary to apply for a higher grade. The Career Plan is now called
the Leadership Guide and has been approved by OPM and will be reviewed soon by the
executive team. The Leadership Guide does include accomplishments spelled out in great detail
that are required to be promoted.

DIO Hummel – PMBs and AS interview questions

• The issue of establishing residence for full time RV’ers comes up a lot in SD and has come up in
other states recently. SD will issue a DL with a Private Mailbox (PMB), which is similar to a PO
box. For the purposes of firearms transfers, a PMB is not a residence and does not constitute
residence for our purposes. Please make sure IOIs are aware of this and feel free to reach out
with any questions.
• I am part of a working group re-evaluating and refreshing the AS interview questions. We took
the approach to ensure the new questions align with the leadership ECQs. We’re working on
expanding and organizing the questions to touch on background and situational questions
which align with the Leadership Guide. There will be a large bank of questions to select from
depending on the needs for that specific office.