Kevin A. Daniels
Mr. Daniels is a member of the Senior Executive Service selected by DEA Administrator Terrance C. Cole as DEA’s Chief Inspector. Mr. Daniels serves as the principal advisor to the DEA Administrator for all matters under purview of DEA’s Inspection Division which consists of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), the Office of Security Programs (IS), and Office of Inspections (IN). These offices are responsible for critical programs that safeguard DEA’s global workforce, investigate threats and critical incidents, ensure integrity and professionalism, and administer compliance and risk management functions.
Prior to being selected as the Chief Inspector, Mr. Daniels served as the Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s Office of Investigative Technology where he leveraged 35 years of diverse law enforcement experience to innovate, advance, and implement investigative technology solutions in support of DEA’s global mission.
Mr. Daniels previously served as Assistant Regional Director for the DEA’s Europe Region, where he directed all the enforcement, investigative, and administrative programs in DEA’s eight country offices covering 25 countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Mr. Daniels focused and led DEA’s resources in the region to target the most significant drug trafficking, narco-terrorist, and drug money laundering organizations impacting the United States and Europe.
Prior to his assignment in Europe, Mr. Daniels served as the Acting Deputy Chief Inspector of OPR at DEA Headquarters, where he oversaw all of DEA’s internal affairs staff and investigations. While assigned to OPR, Mr. Daniels also served as an Associate Deputy Chief Inspector, supervising OPR’s Investigative Team Leaders; and as an Inspector conducting complex and sensitive internal affairs investigations.
Mr. Daniels served as a Supervisory Special Agent in the Miami Division’s HIDTA Task Force (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) and focused on local impact investigations and violent domestic drug trafficking organizations. He also served as a Supervisory Special Agent in the Bogota, Colombia Country Office, where he directed a wide-ranging enforcement portfolio that included two Sensitive Investigations Units (SIU), Colombia’s DEA-sponsored International Airport Investigations Unit, Precursor Chemical Enforcement Unit, two Judicial Wire Intercept Program (JWIP) teams, and the Department of Justice Extradition Program.
Before his promotion to Group Supervisor in Colombia, Mr. Daniels worked as a Special Agent Advisor to the Colombian Attorney General’s SIU. In that position Mr. Daniels oversaw a DEA-funded JWIP group that targeted, investigated, and prosecuted some of Colombia’s most prolific and notorious international drug traffickers in the United States and abroad.
Mr. Daniels entered on duty as a DEA Special Agent in the New York Division. Mr. Daniels worked in a State and Local Task Force Group and a DEA Enforcement Group where he investigated and prosecuted violent drug trafficking organizations based in New York City and international drug trafficking organizations importing illegal drugs into the United States.
Prior to joining the DEA, Mr. Daniels served as a police officer in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Mr. Daniels has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Baldwin-Wallace University where he majored in Criminal Justice and Sociology and worked as an intern with the DEA. Mr. Daniels has had extensive technical and leadership training throughout his career, and attended the University of Notre Dame, Executive Leadership Institute in South Bend, Indiana. Mr. Daniels is a fluent Spanish speaker and a certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and certified Anti-Fraud Specialist.