ATF sometimes traces its origins to the first imposition of excise taxes on distilled spirits in 1791. However, its lineage actually began with the 1919 creation of the Prohibition Unit in the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The agency also had jurisdiction over Federal drug laws during 1914-1930. Only one of the four main factors that shaped ATF has appreciably changed in the 25 years since it became an independent agency. ATF’s regional tradition and rural roots, inherited from the Internal Revenue Service and shaped by the task of liquor law enforcement, have largely disappeared, leaving a national organization of heterogeneous composition and less distinct character. The agency has evolved during this process away from a craft-guild model and toward a national bureaucratic model. The agency retains a functionally divided structure despite all efforts by management to develop the agency as a single bureau. Longstanding political and policy conflicts continue to challenge the agency’s ability to define its mission. The combination of regulatory and law enforcement functions that are linked mainly by historical accident is unique to ATF, as is the ambiguity of the task environment relating to the firearms mission. ATF is likely to experience a merger or reorganization, although it has demonstrated an ability to adapt and reinvent itself. Chapter notes, index, and 133 references