I apologize up front for my past work choice; I worked in DC area at the Pentagon and was given many lessons on how the bureaucracy works. I was honored to work with many organizations outside DOD during my time there. This ATF thing is a classic "rice bowl" and "how to get higher civil service grade" without actually moving jobs effect. When the e-form was released you can bet some folks felt threatened and feared for their grades (loss of number of supervised) and promotion potential (increase in number of supervised). The e-file probably was sold to Congress as a labor saving device that could allow ATF to downsize through attrition without any layoffs. But I think those who felt threatened just found a way to slow roll decisions and keep things more or less status quo. Or as close as status quo as they could. Call me suspicious, but that's how things worked for just about everyone I knew who wanted a long-term career. Fortunately I only had to get to 9.5 years to keep my benefits and retired early at 63 (I had other jobs up til then). Fleeing the cesspool of DC to Texas freedom.
