by Joe Gonzalez
This week a stunning history making event took place. It was the appointment of the first Black to lead the United States Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The appointee is D. Christopher Evans, a career DEA Agent.
Special Agent Evans began his thirty-year DEA career in 1992 in the Washington D.C. Field Office at the height of the crack cocaine era that decimated America in general and the Black Community in particular. Special Agent Evans was later transferred to the Los Angeles Field Office where he was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent (Group Supervisor). It was in this assignment that he investigated various money laundering schemes. In 2006 he was transferred to DEA Headquarters in Arlington Virginia where he was assigned to the elite operations Division, Mexico and Central American section. During this assignment he represented the DEA on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Committee on International Gangs.
Special Agent Evans was promoted during his tour at DEA HQ and served a year as the Executive Assistant to the Chief of Operations followed by two years as the Executive Assistant to the DEA Administrator. He returned to the Los Angeles Field Office as the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) in 2010. During this time, he led the Los Angeles Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force strike force and served as the first strike force Commander. Thereafter, he served tours as the SAC of the Louisville and Detroit Field Offices.
Special Agent Evans later served as the Chief of Operations and Assistant DEA Administrator where he supervised the DEA’s Global enforcement efforts in 240 locations in the USA and 93 foreign Offices in 69 countries. He graduated from Rutgers University earning a BA in Urban Studies and a master’s degree in Political Science. He would also earn a Certificate in Senior Leadership from Georgetown University and completed the DEA Senior Leadership Program at the University of Notre Dame.
The drug epidemic continues to destroy America; the challenges Special Agent Evans will face are many. First, there is an increasing public demand for the legalizing of various drugs across America. Second, the rank refusal of U. S Presidents to use American military forces to secure the borders heavily contributes to the unchecked overwhelming amounts of illegal drugs entering the United States. Third, the dismal failure of the United States Congress to properly finance the anti-drug efforts of DEA. Whether or not any of that will change remains to be seen.
