Members of a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Special Response Team (SRT) move out after insertion via UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter flown by the 185th Aviation Regiment, Mississippi Army National Guard during a training operation.DEA SRTs are the agency's special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams.
Derek Maltz, a former agent who headed the DEA’s special operations division, said that while oversight can always be improved, the special operations are key to infiltrating transnational criminal networks. Their role includes performing high risk arrests and search warrants, vehicle interdictions, close protection for VIPs and specialist surveillance operations. The DEA is America’s resolute force against the illegal drug trade.
Special Operations Teams. Derek Maltz, a former agent who headed the DEA’s special operations division, said that while oversight can always be improved, the special operations are key to infiltrating transnational criminal networks. Of the almost 750 workers stationed abroad, many are DEA agents who are authorized to conduct investigations into foreign nationals, organizations and governments to uncover evidence of narcotics activities, initiate programs to destroy narcotics organizations and obtain support from foreign authorities.These offices provide the legal, diplomatic and investigative foundation for many anti-drug operations and have been enormously successful in the disruption of these trafficking networks. The DEA currently employs almost 92 airplanes and helicopters piloted by 108 DEA agent pilots. These offices support a variety of critical services like aviation, marine and urban interdiction.
The other four FAST teams are stationed at DEA headquarters and are available for immediate deployment to any location in the world.
These pilots have clocked almost 63,000 flight hours over 24,000 flights.Because so much of the drug trafficking into the United States is conducted through the Southwest, the DEA works with an array of federal agencies to staff the El Paso Intelligence Center, which oversees policing and monitoring duties near the U.S.-Mexico border. Two dozen partner agencies comprise the unit, including the FBI, CIA, NSA, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security. These multi-agency operations have been used effectively for the past four decades in identifying, investigating and dismantling drug operations throughout the nation. SIU teams have proved highly effective in countries like Mexico, Thailand and Colombia, where government corruption is endemic. This elite tactical team recruits only the most qualified DEA agents through a rigorous eight-week selection program.In addition to world-class tactical units, the Drug Enforcement Administration maintains 86 Foreign offices in 67 nations. Of the five FAST units, one is permanently stationed in Afghanistan to conduct counter-drug or counter-terrorist operations in the world’s largest opium producing nation. The DEA is also actively involved with law enforcement agencies at the state and local level.This involvement is usually conducted within the framework of State and Local Task Forces. SRT operators undergo an inital SRT Certification Course (SCC) (11 day basic, 5 day advanced) at U.S. Army Base Ft. A.P. These joint units are comprised of 1,890 DEA agents and more than 2,200 local and state officers.Throughout the United States, there are 226 field offices in 21 divisions. Existing units included Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) (which grew out of the Each major DEA domestic office maintains a SRT capability. They may infiltrate criminal organizations as undercover financiers, middlemen or buyers. A slide from a presentation about a secretive information-sharing program run by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Special Operations Division (SOD) is seen in this undated photo. They may also assume a completely tactical role in some of the federal government’s most elite tactical units, the DEA Special Operations Division. In 2005 alone, 458 Priority Target Organization (PTO) investigations were conducted with evidence collected connecting a hundred of these PTOs to terrorist groups. International Operations. These covert units also receive direct Congressional funding and resources to successfully complete assignments. The DEA's SRT capability was officialy standardised in 2016. DEA Special Agents: A force in the field. Special Agent duties include: Gather and prepare evidence to help prosecute major violators of U.S. drug laws DEA agents may organize counter-drug operations in concert with federal law enforcement agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FBI, or the Food and Drug Administration. DEA SRTs are the agency's special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams.
DEA SRT weapons include Rock River LAR-15 (AR-15 derivative) and Glock 17 and 19 9mm pistols.