Decoding the recent bureaucratic moves at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, it looks a lot as if people are being given incentives to keep their mouths shut, and stick with the party line that higher-ups in the Department of Justice knew nothing about the program supplying drug gangs in Mexico with American firearms.

Patrick Richardson of Pajamas Media analyzes the news yesterday that Acting Director Kenneth Melson is being shuffled off to become a senior advisor on forensic science in the DOJ's Office of Legal Programs. They might  just as well rename the post Director of collecting salary and benefits while taking responsibility for nothing.

The move is suspect at best, given that Melson gave secret testimony about who knew what and when within DOJ, and included Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer.

ATF Special Agent Vince Cefalu, one of the original whistleblowers on the case, believes it's motivated by a "cover your ass" attitude on the part of Holder. Cefalu notes Melson is a "lab rat" and believes he should never have been put in charge of ATF in the first place:

I think everything we said all along has been proven to be true. It's no secret that they're cleaning house.

Cefalu thinks Holder asked Melson what job he wanted in return for his silence:

 You don't think they gave him that for his stellar performance at ATF, do you?

Melson reportedly watched some of the straw purchases in Arizona live via webcam in his office.

I take this as a sign of deep worry.  If nothing else, the crew at DoJ is going to try to delay disclosure of documents and records that might contain Eric Holder's fingerprints until after the election.