By Steve Neavling
President Donald Trump has appointed Terry Cole, head of the DEA, to oversee the federal takeover of the Washington, D.C., police department.
Cole, a veteran DEA agent and former Virginia secretary of public safety, will lead what Trump described as an effort to end “out-of-control crime” in the capital, even though violent crime in D.C. hit a 30-year low in January, The Hill reports.
“Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people, and we’re not going to let it happen anymore. We’re not going to take it,” Trump said Monday.
The takeover is authorized by law for 30 days, and would require congressional approval to continue beyond that. Cole was confirmed as DEA administrator in July in a party-line vote after serving two years as Virginia’s public safety secretary under Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who praised the appointment on social media.
Cole joined the DEA in 1997 and served in Colombia, Afghanistan, and Mexico, in addition to management roles in Dallas and Washington. He told former Rep. Mary Bono (R-Calif.) on her podcast last year that the job offered both a chance to combat drugs and raise his children abroad.
“I wanted my kids to grow up diverse … and to remember and see how great this country was each time we came home,” he said.
His career included high-stakes assignments. In 2006, 10 Colombian officers he had worked with were gunned down by soldiers linked to a drug cartel, prompting his evacuation from the country. In 2011, his Dallas office received intelligence that ultimately led to a massacre in the Mexican border town of Allende, though investigative reports later determined it was DEA agents in Mexico — not Cole’s team — who leaked the information to local police.
