ATF Executive Staff
ATF Deputy Director Kenneth E. Melson
Kenneth E. Melson was named as Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives by President Obama. He assumed the post on April 12, 2009. Under the Vacancies Reform Act, he now heads the agency as the Deputy Director.
Most recently, Mr. Melson served as the Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, where he was responsible for administrative oversight of the 94 U.S. Attorneys Offices and for liaison between the U.S. Attorneys and other Federal agencies and Department of Justice (DOJ) components.
Mr. Melson is a graduate of the National Law Center at The George Washington University. After serving as a state prosecutor in Arlington County, Virginia, he joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia in 1983, becoming the First Assistant United States Attorney in 1986.
Mr. Melson is a co-chair of the Subcommittee on Forensic Science, Committee on Science of the National Science and Technology Council within the Executive Office of the President. He is a Past President of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) and in 2006, became Chair of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents. He currently represents DOJ as a board member of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB), serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Forensic Sciences, on the Ethics Committee for the AAFS, and on the Advisory Council of the National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law at Stetson University College of Law.
Mr. Melson has been an adjunct professor at The George Washington University for over 30 years, teaching law and forensic science courses at both the law school and the Department of Forensic Sciences, and publishes in both scientific texts and legal journals.
ATF Executive Assistant Director William J. Hoover
William J. Hoover is Executive Assistant Director for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Previously he was appointed as Assistant Director (Field Operations) in February 2007.
Special Agent Hoover is a 1982 graduate of Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. He began his law enforcement career in 1980 as a Sheriff’s Deputy with the Shenandoah County, Virginia Sheriff’s Department. Prior to joining ATF in 1987 he had also worked as a patrolman with the Roanoke, Virginia Police Department and as a Special Agent for the Norfolk–Southern Railroad Police.
His ATF career began in the Bristol, Virginia Field Office where he worked until 1993 when he was assigned to the Special Operations Division at Bureau Headquarters. There, he served as a Project Officer in the Tactical Response Branch, which was responsible for the Bureau’s Special Response Teams.
In March of 1995, Special Agent Hoover was promoted to Program Manager in the Training and Professional Development Directorate, in charge of the Bureau’s firearms training program. In October 1995, he was promoted to Resident Agent in Charge of the Portland, Oregon Group II Field Office. On May 7, 2000, he was promoted to the position of Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Louisville Field Division.
In August 2003, Mr. Hoover was named as Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Division. This Division covered the six New England States. In January of 2006, Special Agent Hoover was promoted to the Special Agent in Charge position of ATF’s Washington Field Division. This field division is the largest in ATF in number of personnel.
Special Agent Hoover has been an Instructor at the International Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest, Hungary. He also served as an Operations Commander (ASAC) during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1998, Mr. Hoover received the Bureau’s Distinguished Service Medal.