cannabisnews.com: DEA Chief Gets Good Response





DEA Chief Gets Good Response
Posted by CN Staff on August 11, 2003 at 16:18:19 PT
By Jerry Seper, The Washington Times
Source: Washington Times 
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."   Source: Washington Times (DC)Author: Jerry Seper, The Washington TimesPublished: August 11, 2003Copyright: 2003 News World Communications, Inc. Website: http://www.washtimes.com/Contact: letters washingtontimes.comRelated Articles:Senate Confirms Prosecutor as DEA Chief http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16990.shtmlFirst Woman To Head DEA Sets Agenda http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16987.shtmlThe Chill Is On - Jacob Sullumhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16889.shtmlTandy Won't Be Dandy for Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16876.shtml 
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Comment #9 posted by goneposthole on August 12, 2003 at 07:48:16 PT
Mark Twain for President
"the nation is divided, half patriots and half traitors, and no man can tell which from which."-Mark Twain'to be good is noble, but to show others how to be good is nobler, and no trouble.'http://www.twain2004.com/news_campaign_rally.html "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," tell that to Jennifer Odom
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Comment #8 posted by Mike on August 12, 2003 at 07:02:07 PT
Hitler & Tandy
Its easy to be told you smell like roses when its pure crap that's telling you that... Hitler was never elected. He was appointed Reich Chancellor by the reluctant Reich President Hindenburg after Hitler's Nazi Party took over majority control of the governing Reichstag. Once chancellor, Hitler's Nazi Party passed the Enabling Act of 1933 which among other things gave "the administration sole right to make constitutional changes at will." All freedoms of speech, association and privacy were "temporarily suspended" and the government reserved the "right to invoke itself into any situation in order to restore order." All of this of course in guise of protecting the people from foreign "terrorists."Its hard to think of Nazi atrocities being committed within the realm of the "law" but such oppression tends to to sneak up on us. Both today and yesteryear the one constant has always been public apathy.In regard to Tandy getting a good response, the Enabling Act got a good response too.
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Comment #7 posted by kaptinemo on August 12, 2003 at 05:02:30 PT:
The Washington Times = Soviet Pravda
I've watched the WASHINGTON TIMES very closely, ever since it's inception, and have always marvelled at their homogeneity of material and outlook. But then, can you expect anything else besides lockstep uniformity from a 'newspaper' that is controlled by a man with close ties to the Korean version of the CIA?"The Mighty Wurlitzer", with kimchee instead of a burger and fries. But it's the same old propaganda windbag machine wheezing it's one note, over and over and over...
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Comment #6 posted by Toad on August 12, 2003 at 02:29:06 PT
Typical Wash Times pro republican spin
No suprise here, President Bush wants our great nation drug free.
Yawn... George 2nd is my least favorite dry drunk fundamentalist.
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Comment #5 posted by freedom fighter on August 12, 2003 at 01:25:22 PT
Would'nt it be so fun
to find out who is the ...10%...???;)paceff
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Comment #4 posted by freedom fighter on August 12, 2003 at 01:10:18 PT
Just a stupid tick!
but can be dangerous...dea... fbi.... cia... etc...which agency will be so willin to kill our own people.. in the color of law... Oh, I know, it's already done for..I know I am not supposed to talk abut bushit.. but hey, this cowboy stopped by my town.. I just do not understand why someone would give him 2 thousands dollars. They are all invited to attend and they paid 2 grand for it and some little smokey joes.. (junk food that kills)Cough! Cough!Meanwhile, out on the street, 50% split!! A formula for "civil" war brewing!Bush gotta go.. I know... but hey, am I lying to myself when come down at 2004, bush gonna proclaim himself a hilter?Maybe it is pretty radical, maybe the "voters" do not vote.. I mean why not? Suppose if 90% of the population decided to not to vote..What does it means to the 10%? Time to party? What do you think? I know Hilter won by one vote...But he is a dead pig now!Are we an Unorganized Soviet States of Amerika?or are we are simply just "American" as I-can?pazff
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on August 11, 2003 at 17:49:45 PT
From: Clifford Schaffer 
US HI: PUB LTE: Lying Has Been An Official Policy For 70 Yearshttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1210/a11.html?397LYING HAS BEEN AN OFFICIAL POLICY FOR 70 YEARS The Maui News editorial "Drug war needs honesty" ( Aug. 6 ) noted a law enforcement official blatantly lied to promote his own agenda and, when confronted, claimed the lies were correct even when the original source for the figures said they weren't even close to correct. So what else is new? If your readers care to read the history of the drug war, they will find that it has been official U.S. government policy to lie about these issues for at least the last 70 years. Read all about it yourself at http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer under Historical Research. I suggest you start with "The Drug Hang-Up" by Rufus King. The drug war was built on lies and requires lies to survive. That's why they lie, and they do it deliberately. Clifford Schaffer Agua Dulce, Calif. Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1183/a08.html
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on August 11, 2003 at 17:40:29 PT
Cage sick Americans for using a plant
& wonder about low morale.What a waste of resources.Tandy and the DEA should be able to beat a dog and have better morale.
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Comment #1 posted by Dark Star on August 11, 2003 at 16:40:32 PT
Someone's Idea of a Joke
Check DEA Watch, and see if you think that the DEA rank and file is enamored of Ms. Tandy---not!This is hopeless propaganda. You can't dwell in a cesspool and expect that it won't stink. It does, and will continue to under her leadership, or anyone else's until there are radical changes in policy.
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