DEA Administrator Sworn in After Senate Confirmation

According to a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) press release from June 29, 2021, Anne Milgram was sworn in on June 28 as the Administrator of the DEA, where she will oversee an agency of more than 10,000 employees, including nearly 5,000 Special Agents and 800 Intelligence Analysts, in 239 domestic offices in 23 divisions throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, and in 91 foreign offices in 69 countries.

Milgram served as the Attorney General for New Jersey, where she led the 9,000-person Department of Law & Public Safety from 2007 to 2010. She more recently served as Professor of Practice and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at New York University School of Law- the same school she at which received her J.D. Her academic work focuses on reforming the criminal justice system using data, analytics, and technology.

In 1997, Milgram joined the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as an Assistant District Attorney. In 2001, she joined the Department of Justice (DOJ) as a federal prosecutor, serving as Special Litigation Counsel for Human Trafficking. In this position, she led the Department’s human trafficking prosecutions. She received a U.S. Department of Justice Special Commendation for Outstanding Service and the U.S. Department of Justice Director’s Award for her work.

Milgram also has widespread support from lawmakers as they focus on combatting the ever-growing opioid epidemic in the country. After meeting her back in May, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, “After years of absent leadership at DEA, I am pleased to see a qualified, experienced nominee chosen to steer DEA in a new direction.  I believe Ms. Milgram has the expertise and capability to bridge the gap between public health and criminal justice and respond to the opioid crisis with the measured approach our country so desperately needs,”

Administrator Milgram said of her new position, “I am honored to lead the dedicated professionals of the Drug Enforcement Administration, who work tirelessly at home and abroad to carry out DEA’s vital mission of making our communities safer and healthier.”

The Senate last confirmed an Administrator of the DEA, Michele Leonhart, in December 2010.  She resigned in May 2015 over a prostitution scandal.  Since then, the DEA has been led by Acting Administrators.