Trump Picks ATF Veteran to Lead Agency Facing Major Overhaul

President Donald Trump quietly nominated Robert Cekada, the deputy director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, to serve as the agency’s chief, according to a notice sent to Congress this week.

Cekada, a career law enforcement officer, would lead an agency that’s in the middle of a broad restructuring that has weakened its regulatory operations and shifted hundreds of agents to immigration enforcement and street patrols in Washington.

The White House submitted Cekada’s nomination to the Senate without a public announcement, and the chamber has yet to schedule a confirmation hearing. A three-decade veteran of the bureau, ...