Trump picks Florida sheriff Chad Chronister to lead DEA

President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he is tapping Republican Florida sheriff Chad Chronister to serve as administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.  

In a post to his Truth Social platform, Trump said Chronister “will work with our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to secure the Border, stop the flow of Fentanyl, and other Illegal Drugs, across the Southern Border.”

Bondi, the former Florida state attorney general, is Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department. She was chosen after Trump’s previous choice, former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, withdrew his nomination amid a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations against him of sexual misconduct.  

Chronister has been sheriff of Florida’s Hillsborough County since 2017 and has been with the department for 32 years. Hillsborough County includes much of the Tampa Bay area. 

If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace outgoing DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, who has served in the role for nearly all of President Biden’s term. 

The DEA, which is part of the Justice Department, has approximately 10,000 employees and is tasked with enforcing America’s drug laws. Among its major edicts has been addressing the opioid crisis.

In an interview with “60 Minutes” in September, Milgram said the U.S. is “losing a generation” to fentanyl.

“As complex and as massive a problem as this is, it’s also not a whodunit. We know who’s responsible,” Milgram said. “It’s the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Cartel that are based in Mexico. They dominate and control the entire global fentanyl supply chain, starting in China, going to Mexico, coming into the United States.”