Terry Cole, chosen to take over DC’s police force, has spent 22 years at DEA

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday named the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Terry Cole, as Washington’s “emergency police commissioner” as she carries out President Donald Trump’s unprecedented decision to take over the Washington police department.

Bondi said she’s giving Cole the powers of police chief and the Metropolitan Police Department must receive Cole’s approval before issuing any orders. The capital city’s attorney general swiftly countered with a memo saying Bondi’s action was “unlawful,” setting up a potential legal battle.

Cole’s assignment comes less than a month after the U.S. Senate conformed him to be the DEA’s leader and he was sworn in as head of the agency.

Here’s what to know about Cole:

Three decades in law enforcement

Cole was most recently Virginia’s secretary of public safety and homeland security under Gov. Glenn Youngkin, according to his biography on the DEA’s website.

He’s spent more than 31 years as a law enforcement officer, including 22 at the DEA. At the agency, he worked in Oklahoma, New York and Washington. He spent time overseas in Colombia, Afghanistan and the Middle East. The agency said he fought drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations.

He was the DEA’s acting regional director of Mexico, Canada and Central America when he retired from the federal government in 2020.

Prior to joining the DEA, he was a police officer in New York State.

Bachelor’s in criminal justice

Cole graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. He has certificates in leadership from the University of Virginia and the University of Notre Dame Mendoza School of Business.

Late-night announcement of a new job

Bondi announced Cole’s new role in a directive Thursday evening. It said Cole would assume “powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police.”

Smith, the police chief, had hours earlier directed Washington police to share information with immigration agencies regarding people not in custody — such as someone involved in a traffic stop or checkpoint.

But the Justice Department said Bondi disagreed with the police chief’s directive because it allowed for continued enforcement of “sanctuary policies.”

Bondi said she was rescinding that order as well as other department policies limiting inquires into immigration status and preventing arrests based solely on federal immigration warrants. All new directives must now receive approval from Cole, the attorney general said.

District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s memo, written for Smith, said local officers must continue to follow her orders over Bondi’s. It said the Trump administration doesn’t have the right to “alter the chain of command” within the police department and all directives must be routed through the mayor.