News / Military

Head of US drug agency will resign over sex scandal

Wednesday, 22 April 2015 4:13 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 22 April 2015 4:15 AM ]

Michele Leonhart, the director of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

The director of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is resigning after the agency was tarnished by a series of scandals, including a “sex party” involving its drug agents.

Michele Leonhart will leave as the DEA administrator in May, the US Justice Department, which administers the DEA and several federal law enforcement agencies, said in a statement Tuesday.

The DEA is tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States.

"I want to express my appreciation to Michele, not only for her leadership of the DEA since 2007, but also for her 35 years of extraordinary service to the DEA," Attorney General Eric Holder said in the statement.

"She has devoted her life and her professional career to the defense of our nation and the protection of our citizens, and for that, I am deeply grateful,'' Holder said.

Leonhart, 59, has faced accusations of mismanagement in recent months and she broke with President Barack Obama on drug policy.

She faced harsh questioning in a congressional hearing last week about sex parties that were funded by local drug cartels in Columbia between 2001 and 2005.

The Justice Department published a report last month alleging that DEA agents, including senior supervisors, had sex with prostitutes and committed other serious sexual misconduct in a foreign country.

The report by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General did not disclose where the parties took place, but a federal law enforcement official told the Associated Press the parties occurred in Colombia.

The report has raised concerns about inadequate reporting of sexual misconduct and harassment by agents in some federal law enforcement agencies, including the DEA, the US Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

AHT/AGB

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