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President Donald Trump nominated Terry Cole as the next administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Trump shared the announcement on his Truth Social account on Tuesday, sharing details about Cole’s experiences over the past two decades.
“I am pleased to announce that Terry Cole will be the next Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator. Terry is a DEA Veteran of 21 years, with tours in Colombia, Afghanistan, and Mexico City, who currently serves as Virginia’s Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, leading 11 State Public Safety Agencies, with more than 19,000 employees,” Trump wrote.
“Terry graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a B.A., Liberal Arts/Criminal Justice, and holds Leadership Certificates from University of Virginia, University of Notre Dame, Mendoza School of Business, and MIT Sloan Executive School for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning,” he continued.
“Together, we will save lives, and MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN. Congratulations Terry!” Trump concluded.
Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin released a statement following the announcement by Trump to celebrate Cole’s nomination.
“This is a great pick by President Trump. As Virginia’s Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, Terry Cole has done an outstanding job keeping Virginians safe, fighting fentanyl, human trafficking and illegal immigration,” Youngkin wrote.
“His leadership of our Operation FREE initiative in Virginia resulted in the seizure of tens of thousands of pounds of illicit drugs—including more than 70 million lethal doses of fentanyl—and has become a standard for collaboration between federal, state and local law enforcement. He will put the safety and security of Americans first as head of the DEA. It’s a great day to be an American and a bad day to be a drug dealer,” he added.
Trump previously nominated Florida sheriff Chad Chronister, who later withdrew his name from consideration in December.
“To have been nominated by President-Elect @realDonaldTrump to serve as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is the honor of a lifetime,” Chronister wrote in a post on X in December.
“Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I’ve concluded that I must respectfully withdraw from consideration. There is more work to be done for the citizens of Hillsborough County and a lot of initiatives I am committed to fulfilling,” he stated.