"We want to be able to survive, and we want to be able to do that with a reduced staff so that we have sufficient resources to at least fund those folks," Stucko said. "The people that leave, we want them to leave of their choosing and not of us directing them to leave because we need to reduce our budget."
Employees must apply for the offer by Oct. 14 and leave the bureau by Nov. 30 if they accept the separation package. The offer will be extended to both headquarter and field office employees, and ATF expects 250 to 275 employees will accept the separation packages.
"Maybe we will get more; that would be a good thing," she said. "We are trying to do everything we can to avoid [layoffs] and furloughs."
However, the impending reduction in ATF's workforce could potentially frustrate the bureau's criminal investigatory efforts as well as its processing of firearm license applications.
Stucko theorized that the cuts could affect the entire judicial process. Analyzing criminal evidence could take longer with fewer chemists and lab technicians, leading to a delay in investigators taking receipt of evidence results. Stucko postured that these delays could potentially result in accused criminals waiting longer times for their trials to commence.
Additionally, ATF will have fewer employees approving firearm and explosive license applications, making delays in the application process likely, Stucko said.
While the voluntary separation offer is expected to save the bureau between $15 million to $20 million, Stucko said, ATF could announce an additional offer to employees if costs need to be cut further in the future.
