B. Todd Jones (’83) to Move from ATF to NFL

National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell announced at a meeting of team owners yesterday that B. Todd Jones (’83), currently the director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), will take a position with the league when he departs the ATF, as previously announced, at the end of this month.

In the newly created position, Jones will serve as a special counsel to Goodell and will function as the league's chief disciplinary officer. Goodell has been under a great deal of scrutiny over the past year for his handling of off-the-field incidents of violence involving several players, including star Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. The appointment of Jones follows Goodell's announcement in December that, as the New York Times reported, "the league will no longer rely primarily on the criminal justice system for guidance on when and how to penalize players. Instead, it will use its own investigators to help determine when fines and suspensions are appropriate." Jones will oversee those investigative and disciplinary actions.

Jones has led the ATF since 2011, when he became the bureau's acting director. He was confirmed as director by the U.S. Senate in August 2013. Before going to Washington, D.C., Jones served as Minnesota's U.S. attorney during the Obama and Clinton administrations. He got his start in that office during the early 1990s as an assistant U.S. attorney under Thomas Heffelfinger (’76).