(GunReports.com) — ATF Deputy Director William Hoover resigned days after a congressional report on Operation Fast and Furious sharply criticized him and four other ATF officials for the botched gun-trafficking operation.
Hoover officially retired from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Tuesday, according to two senior ATF officials.
Hoover and his boss, Ken Melson, who was acting director of the ATF at the time, were re-assigned last year in a shake-up ordered by Attorney General Eric Holder. Melson remains with the Justice Department.
Hoover was serving as an assistant to the new ATF deputy director when he submitted his retirement papers last week, officials said.
Part 1 of a three-part report laid much of the blame for the failed gun-running probe on Melson and Hoover in Washington, and three ATF officials in Arizona.
