TECH GRAD MAY BECOME FIRST FEMALE DEA CHIEF

FORT WORTH (AP) -- A Texas Tech-educated Justice Department lawyer who has
led major anti-drug initiatives is expected to become the first female
chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Karen Tandy, 49 and a 1974 graduate of Tech's School of Law, is credited
with revitalizing the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces.

Tandy grew up in Hurst and began her career as a clerk for a federal judge
in Lubbock. She later joined the Justice Department's organized crime division.

The 20-year-old drug task force encompasses three federal departments and
2,400 agents. The agency has had more than 17,000 drug convictions since
Tandy took over as director and associate deputy attorney general in 1999.

Tandy was nominated for the DEA post by President Bush in June.

She finished a Senate hearing this week and a final decision will be made
soon, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., told the Washington bureau of the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram in its Thursday editions.

During the hearing, Tandy vowed to attack the "money supply" of drug
operations and promised to prepare DEA personnel for the upcoming
retirements of almost half its senior staff.

Tandy lives in Fairfax County, Va., with her husband and two teenage daughters.

She's also a Girl Scout leader who has helped organize food drives for
homeless children.