Episode 53 DEA Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Stamm

Interview with retired DEA Special Agent in Charge

Years of Service: 1980-2016

Jeff has over 40 years of experience in law enforcement after beginning his career as a deputy sheriff with the Sacramento S.O.

Jeff began his career with the DEA in 1984 and served in San Jose, California; Brasilia, Brazil; Brownsville, Texas; Islamabad, Pakistan; Kabul, Afghanistan; Dallas, Texas; DEA Headquarters as the Deputy Chief of International Operations; and, finally, as the Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s global Aviation Division.

Jeff brings a very unique insight into drug law enforcement in the United States and the other countries where he served and does not pull any punches. J

eff is the author of the book "On Dope: Drug Enforcement and the First Policeman" and often speaks around the country. Watch for his shorts and clips to be posted this week leading up to his episode. Jeff's LinkedIn profile can be found here.

A link to his book will be in the community pages.

Timecodes/chapters
0:00- Intro
02:23 – Background and family life
09:12 – How did my career in law enforcement affect my family?
13:01 – In December of 2001, I was asked to help reopen the U.S. Embassy in Kabul
15:15 – Drugs are pervasive in everything
16:57 – The Biden Administration traded the world’s largest heroin trafficker for a civilian contractor
19:27 – How an open southern border puts the United States in danger
21:05 – How do foreign governments view the drug problem?
25:16 – There are two principles causing every drug crisis
27:53 – Drug legalization
30:25 – We need a multiple-prong strategy to drug law enforcement
33:05 – Did you have more satisfaction working domestically or internationally?
37:02 – How would your family view your career?
47:31 – What does the DEA Aviation Division do?
49:07 – What requirements does it take to become a DEA pilot?
51:07 – We traded the Merchant of Death for Brittney Griner
52:04- How my views on people and society have changed
58:16 – Do you have any advice for people looking to go into law enforcement?

[michaelfredericks]

Great interview, thanks for posting it. I preceded Jeff in DEA and knew him briefly before I retired in 2000. I also spent several (15 consecutive) years with DEA in overseas assignments (and 3 years post-retirement working on DEA’s SIU program). I applaud Jeff’s articulate presentation of his career, political, and life experiences. He is truly a student of drug law enforcement history, and tells it like it is.

[lethasundquistdecaires]

That was a fantastic interview. What an articulate human being, a true leader, freaking hope and realism.

[sgtcheetoh]

I love the good ending piece on leadership .

[itsmatt]

He's absolutely correct about the effects of drugs, especially including pot, on everyone and everything and every country/culture that drugs come in contact with. I live in an area where pot has always been defacto legal, even when it wasn't. Sparsely populated, not much crime, the effects of drugs should be non-existent, right? I'm burying my clean friends in their late 70's to mid 80's. My pot smoking friends are dying in their 60's to early 70's. And a few have developed dementia-like symptoms starting in their late 50's. Don't tell me pot is harmless, I've had a decades-long front row seat to it's effects and they are very significant.

[sheikhboyardee]

I worked on Operation Leyenda out of San Diego for 5 years. We did an incredible job of asset seizure & arrests all over the world. I constantly traveled on these cases. It was a fun time.

[sheikhboyardee]

Pat Gregory? That name sounds familiar. That is true about DEA, the ability to work great cases on your own. The FBI is just a bunch of back-up agents to the handful of case agents. Not that that is bad if it works for the FBI.