WNY RESIDENT TAKES CHARGE OF DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION

WASHINGTON - A former Buffalo-area resident was sworn in this week as
acting administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

John B. Brown III, who worked for the DEA and its predecessor agency
in Buffalo from 1972 to 1984, succeeds Asa Hutchinson, who resigned
after a year and a half at the agency. President Bush nominated
Hutchinson to be undersecretary of transportation and border security
in the new Department of Homeland Security.

Brown previously was the bureau's deputy administrator. A career DEA
agent, Brown was nonetheless nominated by Bush for the deputy
administrator post, which often goes to a political appointee with no
ties to the agency.

Brown said it's possible but unlikely that Bush will nominate him to
be the agency's permanent head. Only one previous DEA administrator
came up through the ranks.

"It's not out of the realm of possibility, but I'm really a cop,"
Brown said. "I'm probably not in the mix of candidates."

Brown, an Elmira native, began his law enforcement career as a police
officer in Brockport.

He joined the DEA's predecessor, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous
Drugs, as a street agent in Buffalo in 1972, and lived in Hamburg
during his stay in the area.

Brown left Buffalo for a series of promotions that carried him to
Mexico, Miami, Dallas and El Paso, Texas. Bush nominated him to be
deputy administrator - in charge of the agency's day-to-day operations
- - in October 2001.

"I still miss Buffalo," Brown said. "I had an awful lot of friends up
there."

Brown, 56, is a graduate of Brockport State College.

The DEA is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice with about
9,600 employeesworldwide. Its mission is to enforce U.S. drug laws and
investigate international drug trafficking.