Jones named acting ATF chief

Jones named acting ATF chief    The U.S. Justice Department has appointed B. Todd Jones, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, to serve as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
   ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson will step down to become senior advisor on forensic science in the Office of Legal Policy.
   Jones has served as U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota under two administrations. He first served from 1998 to 2001. He was nominated again in 2009 by President Obama and has been in that role since being confirmed that year. In 2009, he was appointed to serve as chair of the Attorney General Advisory Committee (AGAC), a group of U.S. attorneys advising on policy, management and operational issues affecting U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country.
   Melson, a 30-year Justice Department veteran, was appointed acting director of ATF in 2009. Prior to that, he was director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys and served several years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.