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| Drug Enforcement Administration | |
| Abbreviation | DEA |
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| Logo of the Drug Enforcement Administration. | |
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| Badge of the Drug Enforcement Administration. | |
| Agency Overview | |
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| Formed | 1973, July 1 |
| Preceding agencies |
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| Employees | 10,891 (2006) |
| Annual Budget | $2.415 billion USD (2006) |
| Legal personality | Governmental agency |
| Jurisdictional Structure | |
| Federal agency | United States |
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| Operational Structure | |
| Headquarters | Arlington, Virginia |
| Special agents | 5,500+ |
| Elected officer responsible | Eric Holder, Attorney General |
| Agency executives |
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| Parent agency | United States Department of Justice |
| Website | |
| http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/ | |
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a law enforcement agency that works for the United States Department of Justice that enforces the United States drug laws. The DEA is the agency with most responsible for drug enforcement in the U.S. and also shares its responsibilities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It also has complete responsibility (duty to do something) for U.S. drug enforcement investigations in other countries.
The Drug Enforcement Administration was created on 1 July 1973, by Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1973, signed by President Richard Nixon on 28 March 1973. It suggested a single federal agency to enforce the federal drug laws as well as to join together and to organize the government's drug control efforts.
In 1999, the DEA opened the Drug Enforcement Administration Museum in Arlington, Virginia. In February 2003, the DEA started a Digital Evidence Laboratory in its Office of Forensic Sciences.
The DEA is run by an Administrator of Drug Enforcement who is given the job by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The Administrator's direct boss is the Attorney General through the Deputy Attorney General. It has its own training centre called the DEA Academy on the United States Marine Corps base at Quantico, Virginia with the FBI Academy. It has 21 domestic divisions inside the U.S. with 227 field offices and 86 foreign offices in 62 countries. With a budget of over 2.415 billion U.S. dollars, the DEA employs over 10,800 people, including over 5,500 Special agents.
The DEA has a system in place which allows doctors and other people, such as dentists, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners, to prescribe medicines, researchers and manufacturers access to "Schedule I" drugs, as well as Schedules 2, 3, 4 and 5.
DEA agents escort Colombian drug lord Miguel RodrÃguez Orejuela after being extradited to the United States in 2005
DEA agents burning hashish seized in Operation Albatross in Afghanistan, 2008.
"Operation Somalia Express" was an 18-month investigation which included the coordinated takedown of a 44-member international narcotics-trafficking organization responsible for smuggling more than 25 tons of khat from the Horn of Africa to the United States.
DEA Aviation Division logo
