Pubdate: Mon, 11 Aug 2003
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2003 News World Communications, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Jerry Seper
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/karen+tandy  (Karen Tandy)

DEA CHIEF GETS GOOD RESPONSE

The confirmation of the first woman to lead the Drug Enforcement 
Administration has been met with a positive response from veteran agents 
concerned about what many describe as a continuing decline in enforcement 
operations and agency morale during the past two years.

Karen Tandy, an associate deputy attorney general and director of the 
Justice Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, was 
confirmed by the Senate last week as DEA administrator.

"Karen Tandy has a long history in the drug war and brings some very strong 
credentials to the table," said one DEA senior agent who asked not to be 
identified. "We lost some very valuable ground under the previous 
administrator, but it appears we might have regained our focus."

Mrs. Tandy promised leadership that was both "proactive and bold" to 
identify and eliminate the world's drug-smuggling organizations.

"I am committed to devoting all of my energy to do whatever it takes to 
remove drugs as a threat to the security and the future of our great 
country," she said. "I intend to enhance the vision of DEA with a 
combination of focused strategies and cultivated partnerships that will 
enable us to achieve maximum impact in drug law enforcement."

Mrs. Tandy is a native of Fort Worth, Texas, and a graduate of Texas Tech 
University and the Texas Tech Law School. She replaces Asa Hutchinson, a 
former Arkansas Republican representative named in January as 
undersecretary for border and transportation security for the Department of 
Homeland Security.

Mr. Hutchinson had come under fire from both senior executives and 
rank-and-file agents within the DEA for what they called a lack of 
leadership. Several said he used his position at the agency to promote 
himself at a cost to enforcement operations and morale.

Earlier this year, the White House Office of Management and Budget also 
said in a performance evaluation for the 2004 fiscal budget that the DEA, 
under Mr. Hutchinson's leadership, had been "unable to demonstrate progress 
in reducing the availability of illegal drugs in the United States."

The new budget called for the smallest percentage increase for the agency 
since 1988.

Mr. Hutchinson dismissed the report, saying it did not reflect a lack of 
success, only an inability to measure up to the standard of effectiveness. 
He said the DEA needed to better define "success."

Mrs. Tandy will oversee an agency with nearly 10,000 employees, about half 
of whom are agents stationed in 50 countries. The DEA's annual budget is 
nearly $1.9 billion. At the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, 
she was responsible for the oversight of the DEA and the National Drug 
Intelligence Center, as well as developing drug-enforcement policy and 
strategies.

In that post, she managed a $500 million budget and oversaw 2,200 federal 
agents and 500 U.S. prosecutors, along with state and local law-enforcement 
task forces. Mrs. Tandy refocused the task force's efforts on dismantling 
major drug-trafficking and money-laundering organizations, which is what 
she said she intends to do at the DEA.

President Bush, who nominated Mrs. Tandy in March, has also said he will 
nominate Michele M. Leonhart as deputy administrator. Mrs. Leonhart, who 
leads the DEA office in Los Angeles, is a former Baltimore police officer 
who joined the DEA in 1980.

Mrs. Leonhart has worked in a number of DEA offices nationwide, as a field 
agent and supervisor. She has been assigned as an undercover agent in 
numerous drug investigations, and initiated and coordinated several complex 
conspiracy and international smuggling cases.

She oversaw the investigation that dismantled a major Bolivia-based cocaine 
cartel that resulted in the seizure of $14 million in assets.

"Tandy has a good reputation and a long history in drug enforcement, and 
she has surrounded herself with some very good people who also know what we 
do and why," said another top DEA official. "Michele Leonhart is a known 
quantity. She's one of us."