By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department is considering merging the lead agencies enforcing drug and gun laws in a major shakeup as it follows President Donald Trump’s instructions to sharply streamline the government, according to a memo seen by Reuters.
In addition to merging the Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, department leaders are considering eliminating field offices that handle antitrust, environmental and civil cases, according to the March 25 memo.
A potential merger of the ATF and DEA into a single agency would “achieve efficiencies in resources, case deconfliction and regulatory efforts,” the memo says.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in the memo ordered department officials to provide feedback to the proposed restructuring by April 2.
He said the proposed cuts and mergers to various offices were previously provided to the Office of Personnel Management and the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.
A DOJ spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The sweeping proposal comes after Reuters previously reported that the Justice Department was considering drastically scaling back staffing in the Public Integrity Section, which handles the department’s most politically sensitive public corruption cases.
The memo calls for reassigning some of the public corruption attorneys to work out of various U.S. Attorneys’ offices, “while maintaining a core team of supervisory attorneys” to remain in the section.
Other proposed changes in the memo include merging all the Justice Department’s grant offices into one, and eliminating the Community Relations Service, an office that works to de-escalate tensions in various local communities.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone and Rod Nickel)
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