FBI Director Kash Patel is expected to be sworn in early this week as the acting director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to Justice Department officials familiar with the matter.

It is unclear what President Donald Trump’s long-term plans are for ATF — a 5,000-person agency that is responsible for regulating the sales and licensing of firearms and whose agents often work with local law enforcement to solve gun crimes.

But for now, Patel will have the unusual responsibility of operating two large and consequential agencies that are part of the Justice Department.

The people who spoke about his added role did so on the condition of anonymity to discuss a plan that had not yet been announced.

Patel was sworn in Friday as the director of the FBI despite concerns from every Democratic senators and two Republicans who voted against his nomination over concerns that he lacked the temperament and experience needed for such a powerful law enforcement role.

During the first month of the Trump administration, Justice Department officials have fired or pushed out top leaders in the FBI and have suggested they could terminate more.

On Patel’s first day leading the bureau, FBI managers were told Friday that up to 1,500 staff and agents would be transferred out of the bureau’s Washington headquarters to satellite offices across the country.

There haven’t been as many shake-ups yet at ATF. But on Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the general counsel at the agency.

She later touted that move, saying in an interview on Fox News that “these people were targeting gun owners. Not going to happen under this administration.”

Many Republicans and the National Rifle Association have long viewed ATF with hostility, with some calling for it to be abolished.

ATF has had only two Senate-approved directors since the position started requiring Senate confirmation in 2006. During the Biden administration, congressional Republicans slashed the agency’s budget.

Trump had to pull a nominee during his first term, Chuck Canterbury, the former head of the National Fraternal Order of Police, because Republicans thought he would restrict gun rights.

But defenders of ATF say the agency is apolitical, generally focused on fighting gun violence across the country.

They credit ATF with helping drive down violent crime, citing strong relationships with local law enforcement, effective training on how to handle and prosecute gun cases, and proper use of new gun-tracing technology.

ATF operates a popular bullet-tracing technology — known as the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network — which is in high demand among local law enforcement agencies and believed to be one of law enforcement’s best tools for tracking down criminals.

People interviewed have described the typical ATF agent as a conservative-leaning gun owner focused on combating violent crime.

At the end of the Biden administration, outgoing ATF Director Steve Dettelbach and other law enforcement urged the naming of a permanent ATF leader, noting that the agency could become ineffective without someone advocating for it in Congress and within the executive branch.