SAC David Reames began working for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in February, 1998.  He attended Basic Agent Training while it was still co-located with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and graduated with the academic award and was the class speaker for BA-122.  SAC Reames’ first office after graduation was the El Paso Field Division.  SAC Reames worked in Group One of the newly established El Paso Field Division from 1998 to 2002. 

In 2002, SAC Reames received a voluntary transfer to Cincinnati, Ohio.  Cincinnati is where both he and his wife were born and raised and SAC Reames spent the next eight years in the Cincinnati Resident Office.  SAC Reames and his wife Lisa welcomed two sons into their family during his time in Cincinnati.  From a career standpoint, SAC Reames was asked to work in the Cincinnati Police Department’s new Mid-Level Trafficker Unit, as the sole federal agent assigned to the group. 

In 2010, SAC Reames was promoted to Group Supervisor in the St. Louis Division Office.  SAC Reames led Group 37, which was a High Impact Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) group that initially focused on conspiracies and major investigations.  This tasking changed in 2014, when St. Louis was in the grip of a wave of violent crime driven by trafficking groups.  SAC Reames built the Mission: SAVE Task Force in response to this directive.  Mission:  SAVE was a collaboration between DEA, FBI, St. Louis Metropolitan and St. Louis County Police, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the two state prosecutor’s offices responsible for the area. 

SAC Reames took over this program immediately upon returning from Afghanistan.  SAC Reames is a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and was involuntarily mobilized to Afghanistan in April 2013, returning in May 2014.  During this deployment, SAC Reames was the Officer in Charge (OIC) leading an interagency and interservice team of approximately 50 people that tried to deny revenue to the Taliban.  SAC Reames was awarded the Defense Meritorious Service Medal for his role leading this unit in a combat theater.  SAC Reames continues to serve in the Navy Reserve, where he currently holds the rank of Commander. 

SAC Reames returned home from Afghanistan and completed his tour of duty in St. Louis.  In August 2017, he was transferred to Headquarters and assigned to the Special Operations Division as a Staff Coordinator in the Europe, Asia, and Africa Section (OSE), where he covered Afghanistan.  After 11 months in that position, SAC Reames was promoted by the Career Board to serve as SAC Ray Donovan’s Executive Officer at SOD.  SAC Reames held this position for a little over two years, serving SACs Donovan, Chris Tersigni, and finally Wendy Woolcock.  In June 2020, SAC David Reames was selected by the Career Board for reassignment as Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix Division Office, a position which he held from September 2020 to June 2023, at which time he was promoted to be the Special agent in Charge of the Seattle Field Division.