WASHINGTON – In an important step towards tackling the pressing issues of the fentanyl epidemic and Mexican drug cartels, the Trump administration has appointed seasoned counternarcotics expert Derek Maltz as the acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The DEA announced Maltz’s new role in a statement released on Tuesday afternoon. He is taking over from Anne Milgram, the former DEA Administrator under the Biden administration, who departed the agency last week.

“I commit to leading the dedicated team at DEA with both integrity and resilience,” Maltz stated. “We will remain unwavering in our efforts to confront the cartels that pose a threat to our nation.”

Maltz, who has nearly three decades of experience with the DEA, emphasized that the agency is well-equipped to spearhead national drug enforcement and intelligence initiatives by collaborating closely with federal, state, and local partners. His goal is to bring the most dangerous narco-terrorists to justice and save lives by fostering a broad network of community partners aimed at enhancing awareness.

Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, endorsed Maltz’s selection, calling him “an outstanding choice” with almost 30 years of service with the DEA. “With the current death toll from fentanyl and other drugs, he’s precisely what we need,” said Roy, who proposed legislation last year to classify four leading Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.

Earlier, President Donald Trump’s first nominee to lead the DEA, Chad Chronister, who is the sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida, withdrew from consideration just two days after his selection was announced, citing the seriousness of the position.

The DEA, under the Justice Department’s jurisdiction, has over 80 branches abroad and plays a crucial role in the U.S. strategy against organized crime and the drug trafficking networks fueling the synthetic opioid challenge.

In recent years, fentanyl and other synthetic opioids entering the U.S. from Mexico, often disguised as counterfeit prescription painkillers, have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans, marking it as the most lethal drug crisis in U.S. history.

Maltz stepped down from the DEA in 2014 after serving as the special agent in charge of the Special Operations Division (SOD), a multi-agency hub located in Chantilly, Virginia, coordinating U.S. international drug and crime operations.

Throughout his career and especially in the post-retirement years, Maltz has been a strong advocate for targeting transnational criminal organizations responsible for the influx of fentanyl into the U.S., specifically pushing for the classification of Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

On the evening of his inauguration, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to that effect.

“The Cartels have waged a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere, severely destabilizing important countries while inundating the United States with perilous drugs, criminals, and ruthless gangs,” the executive order detailed.

As the head of the DEA, Maltz is expected to drive these efforts with the support of connections he has established with leaders across law enforcement and intelligence agencies both domestically and internationally.

“Derek Maltz has been advocating for this since 2011 when he testified before a Senate subcommittee indicating that these organizations should be classified as narco-terrorist entities,” remarked Michael Brown, a former senior DEA special agent with whom Maltz worked closely.

“They are no longer operating as traditional drug traffickers like in the 1970s,” Brown elaborated, now serving as the global director of counter-narcotics technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices. “Through the use of advanced drug manufacturing techniques and extreme violence, they have evolved into transnational organized crime groups that are responsible for thousands of American deaths due to fentanyl.”

“This designation provides law enforcement and prosecutorial offices the significant authority needed to combat not just the cartels but also the domestic entities aiding them,” Brown added.

A Young ‘Undercover’ Agent

Maltz’s fame at the DEA partly stems from an early experience where he participated in his first undercover drug surveillance at just seven years old, accompanying his father, who was a New York City drug task force agent. He later oversaw the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, which is the oldest and largest drug task force in the country.

Maltz played a pivotal role in establishing a coordinated effort between the departments of Justice and Homeland Security to tackle crime and drug-related issues globally. He was also instrumental in setting up the Counter Narco-Terrorism Operations Center (CNTOC) in January 2007.

As the head of SOD, Maltz was involved in significant operations targeting figures in transnational criminal organizations, such as Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán of the Sinaloa Cartel and arms dealer Viktor Bout, often referred to as the “Merchant of Death.”

In recent years, Maltz held the position of executive director for government relations at Pen-Link Ltd and became a frequent commentator on platforms like Fox News, often criticizing the Biden administration for its insufficient measures against drug cartels and suppliers of fentanyl precursor chemicals from China.

“Anyone watching videos of the border can see it’s a catastrophic disaster—no, a humanitarian crisis, a public health crisis, and a national security crisis all at once,” Maltz stated in a May 2023 podcast hosted by the conservative Heritage Foundation.

During his testimony on November 17, 2011, as the head of SOD, Maltz emphasized the urgent need for more aggressive action against drug cartels using terrorism laws.

“Given the immediate and severe consequences stemming from international narcoterrorism, DEA cannot afford to adopt a wait-and-react stance towards this threat,” Maltz told members of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on terrorism.

“Instead, in response to international narcoterrorism, we must implement a proactive investigative strategy to safeguard innocent lives and property and to effectively address the looming national security risks,” he asserted.

Maltz has also worked diligently with families affected by fentanyl overdoses to share their personal stories as warnings about the substance’s dangers, noting that fentanyl can be over 50 times as potent as heroin, with even a minute amount the size of a grain of rice capable of being fatal.

A Key Focus for Trump

During his campaign, Trump frequently highlighted the importance of intensifying efforts against drug cartels and the fentanyl crisis.

In his recent executive order, Trump did not identify any specific cartel, crime group, or trafficker.

The order effectively categorizes various cartels and crime syndicates as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

According to Brown, this classification allows the U.S. government to take a more aggressive stance towards cartel traffickers. It could potentially involve military or intelligence operations to neutralize them with drone strikes.

Additionally, it may enable prosecutors to pursue charges against U.S.-based accomplices for providing support to terrorist organizations, potentially resulting in significantly extended prison sentences.