President Biden nominated former New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration.
As New Jersey’s attorney general from 2007-2010, Milgram was New Jersey’s chief law enforcement officer and led the 9,000-person Department of Law & Public Safety, overseeing the New Jersey State Police and the State Division of Criminal Justice. Milgram also had oversight responsibility for state and county prosecutors and more than 30,000 local law enforcement officers statewide. During her career, Milgram spearheaded investigations into human trafficking, narcotics trafficking, street gangs, violent and organized crime, public corruption, securities fraud, mortgage fraud, and civil rights violations.
Milgram began her career as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. She went on to serve as a federal prosecutor in the United States Department of Justice, where she became Special Litigation Counsel for the prosecution of human trafficking crimes. In that role, Milgram partnered with United States Attorney’s Offices in the Eastern District of New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire to prosecute some of the first sex trafficking and forced labor cases under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.
Milgram is currently a Professor of Practice and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at New York University School of Law, where she teaches seminars on human trafficking and local criminal prosecution and leads the Criminal Justice Lab. The Lab, in partnership with local jurisdictions, has designed and built a screening tool that can be used by law enforcement to identify individuals suffering from mental health and substance abuse disorders who can safely be diverted into treatment. Milgram is also Special Counsel to Lowenstein Sandler LLP and currently serves as a member of the board of Covenant House International, the Century Foundation, the Center for Policing Equity, and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Chris Evans, who served as Chief of Operations and Assistant Administrator for DEA’s Operations Division, has been Acting Administrator since Jan. 20.
