ALL IN DUE TIME

Washington Post
Fred Page
7/31/2009

 

With a lot on its plate, it’s no surprise that the Obama administration didn’t get around tout de suite to pick a new head of the Drug Enforcement Administration as soon as it got to town. Career agent Michele Leonhart has been acting chief in the interim 19 months since Karen Tandy left the administrator’s job.

The years have not been kind to the agency, as the war on drugs receded from the front pages here — though not in Mexico. The Justice Department has been keeping a tight rein on the agency — it never even seems to go up by itself to testify on the Hill, usually tagging along with another agency, such as ATF.

But we’re told that the administration is working on filling the job and has talked to Leonhart, deputy FBI chief John Pistole, New York assistant U.S. attorney Boyd Johnson (best known of late for leading the investigation of former governor Eliot Spitzer’s links with a prostitution service), and former San Diego assistant U.S. attorney Greg Vega about the post, with Pistole and Johnson seen as front-runners.
           

This short article discusses the Obama Administration’s possible picks for new leadership at the Drug Enforcement Administration. The two front runners are rumored to be Deputy FBI Chief John Pistole, New York Assistant U.S. Attorney Boyd Johnson.