Andrew Traver, agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Chicago, has been chosen by President Obama to head the agency. He joined the agency in 1987, working from 2001 to 2004 as agent in charge in San Francisco and from 2000 to 2001 in New Orleans. Traver is a graduate of Northern Illinois University.
ATFE has been headed on an interim basis by Kenneth Melson, a former prosecutor. The agency has had a series of interim directors since Carl Truscott resigned in 2006 amid an investigation into questionable spending on a new headquarters and other items.