Why is there an ATF? They are a redundant bunch of screw-ups

Remember Waco and ?Ruby Ridge? 

The ATF — Nice Work if You Can Get It

September 28, 2017  David Holberg

The oxymoron that is government accountability

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sure knows how to live it up! According to a New York Times article, employees of the ATF teamed up with the warehouse of a private tobacco company for the ostensible purpose of fighting cigarette smuggling. But, in short order, the arrangement turned into a slush fund.
On its face, the arrangement made some sense:

The A.T.F. tried setting up front companies to infiltrate smuggling rings, but with limited success. Gangs and cartels were too smart to deal with companies that appeared out of thin air. [Veteran ATF agent Thomas] Lesnak had a solution: Rather than pose as a real company, go into business with an existing one.

So, in 2006 Lesnak convinced Jason Carpenter, a small, Alabama-based tobacco distributor, to open a warehouse in Bristol, Virginia, and sell cigarettes to smugglers.  The ATF had no authority to do this, something that the higher-ups in the Bureau would admit after the scheme was exposed. The warehouse did make it easier to catch smugglers. It also made it easier for ATF agents to fund whatever they wanted:

For seven years, [ATF] agents…followed an unwritten policy: If you needed to buy something for one of your cases, do not bother asking Washington. Talk to agents in Bristol, Va., who controlled a multimillion-dollar account unrestricted by Congress or the bureaucracy.
Need a flashy BMW for an undercover operation? Call Bristol.
A vending machine with a hidden camera? Bristol.
Travel expenses? Take this credit card. It’s on Bristol.

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