DEA

The Drug Enforcement Agency, commonly referred to as the DEA, is a branch of the U.S. Department of Justice that was created by Richard Nixon in 1973. Its purpose is to enforce federal drug laws and combat the illegal drug trade in the United States. The DEA also shares authority with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to coordinate international drug investigations as well.

Fast Facts

1. Formed: July 1, 1973
2. Established by the Nixon Administration
3. Preceding agencies: Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD), and Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE)
4. Parent agency: U.S. Department of Justice
5. Headquarters: Arlington, Virginia
6. Employees: 10,981 (2006)
7. Acting administrator: Michele Leonhart
8. 2006 Budget: $2.4 billion

Debatable Effectiveness

The DEA's overall effect on the drug trade has been under debate. Although it reportedly seized $477 million of narcotics and $1.4 billion in drug-related assets in 2005, The White House's Office of Drug Control Policy reports that the drug trade amounts to nearly $64 billion annually. Therefore, the DEA only stopped a small fraction of the drug trade that year. Proponents respond by arguing that many of the DEA's effects, like prevented sales and market limitation due to seized drugs, are harder to track by total revenue.

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