United States Drug Enforcement Administration

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

SAC Smith succeeds Shane R. Catone, who was appointed by DEA Administrator Cole as the Associate Chief of Operations (ACO) for the DEA Midwest Region. ACO Catone will now oversee investigative, operational, and administrative collaboration across five DEA domestic divisions (Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Omaha and Louisville). 

SAC Smith possesses over two decades of drug trafficking investigative experience, has testified as a drug trafficking expert and he testified at the trial of Joaquin Guzman, a/k/a El Chapo, in the Eastern District of New York. 

After graduating from the DEA Training Academy in 2004, SAC 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. SAC Smith also conducted impactful international drug and money laundering conspiracies investigations targeting Mexican cartels distributing drugs to and through the Chicago Field Division.     

In 2012, SAC Smith was promoted to group supervisor of a DEA financial investigation team in Chicago, where he led a complex conspiracy investigation enforcement group, which played a critical role in the federal extraterritorial blackberry electronic communication T-III program, leading to significant drug and drug proceed seizures and federal conspiracy indictments against Mexican cartel members and numerous extraditions. 

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

In 2019, SAC Smith was promoted to the position of Executive Assistant for the DEA Chief of Operations, where 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, SAC Smith returned to the DEA Chicago Field Division as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge.

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

In August 2025, SAC Smith was appointed by DEA Administrator Cole to the position of Deputy Special Agent in Charge for the Chicago Field Division.

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