Washington, United States
US President Joe Biden on Monday appointed a new director of the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and appointed an expert diplomat in Central America as head of the Office of Narcotics and Security in the State Department.
Biden chose as director of the DEA a Anne Milgram, A former Attorney General of the state of New Jersey; and as a narcotics officer in the State Department a Todd Robinson, Who was US ambassador to Guatemala and in charge of business in Venezuela, from where he was expelled by President Nicolás Maduro.
Both seats require Senate confirmation, Which has not given the green light to any nominee to lead the DEA since the government of former President Barack Obama (2009-2017).
The DEA, an agency of the Justice Department that prosecutes drug trafficking inside and outside the United States, it has been temporarily captained since 2018 by Uttam Dhillon, appointed by the government of former President Donald Trump.
Milgram, chosen by Biden to replace her, has led investigations into human trafficking, drug trafficking, street gangs, organized crime and corruption, among other topics, as well as being Attorney General of Nova. Jersey between 2007 and 2010, the White House said in a statement.
Milgram is currently professor at New York University School of Law, Where he directs his Criminal Justice Laboratory, Which promotes alternatives to imprisonment for people suffering from mental health problems or substance abuse.
“There is no system that is more outdated or broken and problematic than the (U.S.) criminal justice system,” Milgram said in an interview with the MarketWatch website in 2019.
As for Robinson, nominated by Biden as Deputy Secretary of State for International Narcotics Affairs and law enforcement, is a career diplomat who already has experience in this office, which he worked on during Obama’s tenure.
Robinson speaks Spanish and is well known in Latin America because he was ambassador to Guatemala from 2014-2017; in addition to being in charge of business at the US Embassy in Caracas, from where he was expelled in May 2018 by Maduro.
The Venezuelan president then accused Robinson, who led the American legation, of participating in a military, economic and political conspiracy; which Washington called false.
Robinson then became in charge of Central America in the State Department, And has also been assigned as a diplomat to El Salvador, Colombia, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic and Spain, among other countries.
Biden also nominated eight officials on Monday, including Marcela Escobari as the new head of Latin America and the Caribbean for the United States Agency for Development (USAID).
Escobari already held the same position during Obama’s tenure, when he worked on the Pau Colombia program and a development plan for Haiti, and “prepared a proactive strategy in the face of the humanitarian and political crisis” in Venezuela, according to the White House.
In addition, Biden chose intelligence expert Chris Inglis as National Director of Cybernetics; to Christine E. Wormuth as secretary of the U.S. Army, one of the uniformed branches of the Pentagon; and former Latin Congressman Gil Cisneros as Undersecretary of Defense on personnel and preparation issues.