News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 31, 2002

JOHN BROWN III SWORN IN
AS DEA DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR

John B. Brown III officially became the new Deputy Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration at a ceremony at DEA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, on May 24th.

He was given the oath of office by the Honorable Frederick J. Scullin, Jr., Chief District Court Judge for the Northern District of New York.

"In spite of my new title," the new Deputy Administrator told an auditorium filled with family, fellow DEA special agents and support workers, "I am nothing more than just a special agent in the Drug Enforcement Administration, just like my colleagues, working every day to try to make a difference."

"Drug law enforcement is hard, dangerous duty," he said. "But it offers a real sense of satisfaction, a real sense of accomplishment that would be hard to find in any other profession."

"But now we have an added responsibility," he said. "Many of the world's most violent terrorist organizations are financed through drug trafficking operations. I'm proud to say that the work being done by DEA is making a real difference in our nation's ability to fight terrorist groups."

Mr. Brown began his law enforcement career in 1969 as an officer in the Brockport, New York, police department. Three years later, he joined a DEA predecessor agency, the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, as a special agent in Buffalo, New York.

In 1984, he was assigned to the DEA Resident Office in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, and the following year became head of the DEA Resident Office in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. In 1988, he became a Group Supervisor in the Miami Field Division, and later held the same title for the Caribbean Enforcement Group.

Since then, Mr. Brown has served DEA in increasingly responsible positions, among them: Deciding Official for Disciplinary Matters, Director of the El Paso Intelligence Center and Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Division.

Mr. Brown graduated from the State University of New York at Brockport in 1968, with a Bachelor's Degree in English and Literature. He is married and has two grown sons.