DEA STRUCTURE

The DEA is headed by an administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The Administrator reports to the attorney general through the deputy attorney general.^[13]

The administrator is assisted by a deputy administrator, the chief of operations, the chief inspector, and three assistant administrators (for the Operations Support, Intelligence, and Human Resources divisions). Other senior staff includes the chief financial officer and the chief counsel.

rk NOTE: IMO, "chief" implies "minions" to boss around. How many does that include? Would the CFO know?

The administrator and deputy administrator are the only presidentially appointed personnel in the DEA; all other DEA officials are career government employees.

DEA's headquarters is located in Arlington County, Virginia, across from the Pentagon. It maintains its own DEA Academy located on the Marine Corps Base Quantico at Quantico, Virginia, alongside the FBI Academy.

As of 2024, it maintains 241 domestic offices in 23 divisions, and 91 foreign offices in 69 countries.^[14] With a budget exceeding $3 billion, DEA employs 9,848, including 4,649 special agents and 5,199 support staff as of 2021.^[15]

c. 2015 its headquarters and the DEA Museum were in 503,776 square feet (46,802.3 m²) in Lincoln Place, a rented office building in Pentagon City in Arlington County, Virginia.

In September 2018 this lease was scheduled to end. The General Services Administration (GSA), circa 2015, was checking to see where in Northern Virginia the DEA could be headquartered.^[16] In 2018 the government of the United States extended the lease at Lincoln Place, now to expire circa 2033.^[2] The DEA administration favored retaining the original location.^[17]

Structure

• Administrator
  • Deputy Administrator
    • Human Resource Division
      • Career Board
      • Board of Professional Conduct
      • Office of Training
    • Operations Division
      • Aviation Division
      • Office of Operations Management
      • Special Operations Division
      • Office of Diversion Control
      • Office of Global Enforcement
      • Office of Financial Operations
    • Intelligence Division
      • Office of National Security Intelligence (ONSI)^[18]
      • Office of Strategic Intelligence
      • Office of Special Intelligence
      • El Paso Intelligence Center
      • OCDETF Fusion Center
    • Financial Management Division
      • Office of Acquisition and Relocation Management
      • Office of Finance
      • Office of Resource Management
    • Operational Support Division
      • Office of Administration
      • Office of Information System
      • Office of Forensic Science
      • Office of Investigative Technology
    • Inspection Division
      • Office of Inspections
      • Office of Professional Responsibility
      • Office of Security Programs
    • Field Divisions and Offices

Special agents

As of 2017, there were 4,650 special agents employed by the Drug Enforcement Administration. DEA agents' starting salary is $49,746–$55,483. After four years, the salary rises to above $92,592. This figure doesn't include Cost of living allowance (COLA) or LEAP which rated at 25% of base pay including COLA. Special Agents at the 13 step 5 level in high cost of living areas of the United States make near the federal pay cap of $191,000.^[19]

After receiving a conditional offer of employment, recruits must then complete an 18-week rigorous training which includes lessons in firearms proficiency (including basic marksmanship), weapons safety, tactical shooting, and deadly-force decision training. To graduate, students must maintain an academic average of 80 percent on academic examinations, pass the firearms qualification test, successfully demonstrate leadership and sound decision-making in practical scenarios, and pass rigorous physical-task tests. Upon graduation, recruits earn the title of DEA Special Agent.

Because the DEA is responsible for enforcing the Controlled Substances Act, it excludes from consideration job applicants who use or have a recent history of using narcotics or illicit drugs. As of June 27, 2024, DEA applicants cannot have used cannabis or marijuana within three years of submitting their application and cannot have used any other narcotic substance within seven years of applying, although allowances are made for the use of marijuana prior to an applicant's 18th birthday.^[20] Background investigations usually include a polygraph test for special-agent, diversion-investigator, and intelligence research specialist positions.[citation ^needed]

The DEA's relatively firm stance on personal drug use contrasts with those of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which in 2023 considered further relaxing their eligibility guidelines so as to combat dwindling recruitment rates.^[21]

Aviation Division

The DEA Aviation Division or Office of Aviation Operations (OA) (formerly Aviation Section) is an airborne division based in Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, Texas. The current OA fleet consists of 106 aircraft and 124 DEA pilots.^[22]

The DEA shares a communications system with the Department of Defense for communication with state and regional enforcement independent of the Department of Justice and police information systems and is coordinated by an information command center called the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) near El Paso, Texas.

Special Operations Division

The DEA Special Operations Division (SOD) is a division within the DEA, which forwards information from wiretaps, intercepts, and databases from various sources to federal agents and local law enforcement officials. The SOD came under scrutiny following the 2010s global surveillance disclosures.^[23]