FBI Director Kash Patel has issued a formal denial of a recent media report alleging a significant reduction of personnel within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

The statement was made in an internal memo to ATF employees, following claims that up to one thousand ATF agents were to be reassigned to the FBI.

The original report stated that FBI leadership planned to cut ATF’s workforce by more than one-third and shift a substantial number of agents to other departments within the FBI.

The article cited unnamed sources and suggested the move was a response to long-standing criticism of the ATF from gun rights advocacy groups.

In the memo, Patel, who currently serves as both FBI Director and acting head of the ATF, described the report as “entirely false.” He emphasized that no decisions regarding personnel had been reversed due to media pressure, stating that “when we make decisions, they will be final, regardless of the input of CNN or any other news organization.”

Patel added that operational command authority over the ATF rests solely with agency leadership and not with external media organizations.

He assured staff that the integrity and mission of the ATF would not be compromised by what he referred to as media-driven disinformation.

Following the circulation of the initial report, unnamed U.S. officials were quoted as saying that the FBI had adjusted elements of the alleged plan in response to political pushback.

Patel denied these claims in the memo.

The statement comes shortly after Patel was sworn in as FBI Director, during which he publicly criticized the media’s portrayal of his leadership.

He reiterated that criticism in the memo, distancing operational decisions from media narratives.

The ATF currently employs approximately two thousand six hundred agents and more than five thousand total personnel.

No official restructuring or staffing changes involving the ATF have been announced by the FBI or Department of Justice at this time.