United States Drug Enforcement Administration

CHICAGO – Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terrance C. Cole has appointed Todd Smith as the new Deputy Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Chicago Field Division. 

As the Deputy Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Field Division, Smith supports the newly appointed DEA Chicago Field Division Special Agent in Charge, Shane R. Catone, in executing and overseeing the Chicago Division’s drug enforcement mission throughout Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Smith possesses over two decades of drug trafficking investigative experience. He has testified as a drug trafficking expert in several high-profile cases and as a prosecution witness in numerous cases, including the Joaquin Guzman-Loera trial in the Eastern District of New York. 

After graduating from the DEA Training Academy in 2004, Smith was assigned to a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area group in Chicago, where he led complex gang conspiracy investigations in partnership with the Chicago Police Department to disrupt and dismantle segments of violent Chicago street gangs through state and federal prosecutions. Smith also conducted impactful international drug and money laundering conspiracy investigations targeting Mexican cartels distributing drugs to and through the Chicago Field Division.     

In 2012, Smith was promoted to group supervisor of a DEA financial investigation team in Chicago. He led a complex conspiracy investigation enforcement group which played a critical role in Title III federal wiretaps targeting the Sinaloa cartel and significant drug and drug proceed seizures, federal conspiracy indictments, and numerous extraditions. 

In 2018, Smith was assigned to the Operations Division, Mexico, Central America and Canada Section at DEA Headquarters. Smith volunteered to serve as a DEA liaison at the Department of Defense Narcotics and Transnational Crime Support Center, where he provided analytical case support to the Special Operation Division.

In 2019, Smith was promoted to the position of Executive Assistant for the DEA Chief of Operations. He assisted and advised the Chief of Operations on DEA’s global enforcement efforts in 240 domestic offices in 23 divisions throughout the United States and 93 foreign offices in 69 countries, as well as DEA’s Special Operations Division.   

In June 2020, Smith returned to the DEA Chicago Field Division as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge.

In November 2021, Smith was assigned to lead the enforcement groups specializing in the targeting of transnational criminal organizations through significant drug and money laundering investigations.

Smith began his law enforcement career with U.S. Customs and Border Protection after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Michigan State University.