United States Drug Enforcement Administration

DENVER – Administrator Anne Milgram has named Brian Besser as the Special Agent in Charge of the Denver Field Division. Besser most recently served as the Interim Assistant Administrator over the Diversion Control Division at DEA headquarters in Washington.

As the Special Agent in Charge, Besser will lead a staff of Special Agents, Diversion Investigators, Intelligence Analysts, Task Force Officers, professional staff, and contractors, located within 13 offices across Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana.

Besser maintains oversight responsibility for the investigative, enforcement, intelligence, and regulatory strategies of the Denver Field Division, while facilitating DEA’s efforts to target the highest echelon of international drug traffickers, transnational criminal organizations, and violent gangs.

Besser joined the DEA as a Special Agent in 1997 and was assigned to the New York Field Division, Syracuse Resident Office. In this position he worked as a field Special Agent until he was promoted in January 2009, to the position of Resident Agent in Charge of the Rockford, Illinois Resident Office within the Chicago Field Division. In this assignment, he was responsible for overseeing all DEA enforcement operations in Northwestern Illinois.

In 2015, Besser reported to DEA Headquarters as a Staff Coordinator assigned to the Office of Operations Management, where he was responsible for developing agency-wide policy initiatives and compliance standards. In October 2015, he was promoted to the position of Section Chief over DEA's global program for Security & Emergency Planning where he was responsible for managing DEA’s initiatives for developing, implementing, and maintaining functional emergency plans for optimum agency preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation to disaster.

In June 2016, Besser reported to the Denver Division, Salt Lake City District Office as the District Agent in Charge, responsible for overseeing all of DEA’s enforcement operations and administrative functions in Utah. While in Utah, Besser managed and directed over 100 personnel comprised of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers, intelligence analysts, diversion investigators, and professional staff. He also served as the Commander of the Salt Lake City Metro Narcotics Task Force; the largest HIDTA-funded cooperative task force in the Rocky Mountain Region.

Besser was promoted to the Senior Executive Service in 2019, assuming the role of Deputy Assistant Administrator over the Office of Diversion Control Operations, and then Interim Assistant Administrator over the Diversion Control Division at DEA Headquarters in Arlington, VA. 

In these assignments, Mr. Besser was responsible for overseeing DEA’s global program for regulating more than 1.9 million DEA registrants across the entire pharmaceutical supply chain.  Besser also spearheaded DEA’s domestic and international efforts to prevent, detect and investigate the diversion of pharmaceutical controlled substances and listed chemicals.

Besser earned a Bachelor of Science from Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC, and is completing his Master of Theology from Maranatha Baptist Seminary. He began his law enforcement career in 1992 as a police officer with the Greenville County (SC) Sheriff’s Office.

For interview requests contact the Denver Field Division Public Information Officer Steve Kotecki, 720-537-5518.

More information and a full biography can be found at https://www.dea.gov/denver/denver-leadership

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