The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Karen P. Tandy, a prosecutor and senior Justice Department official, will become the first woman to head the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The Senate voted without dissent Thursday night to confirm Tandy, who was chosen by President Bush earlier this year to replace departed DEA head Asa Hutchinson. Hutchinson is now undersecretary for border security and transportation at the Homeland Security Department.
Tandy has served during the Bush administration as associate deputy attorney general in the Justice Department, focusing on national drug enforcement strategy and on related money laundering and forfeiture issues.
From 1990 to 1999, Tandy held several posts in the Justice Department’s criminal division. Before that she was a federal prosecutor in Virginia and Washington. She is a native of Fort Worth, Texas, and 1977 graduate of Texas Tech University Law School.
Bush also has announced his intention to nominate Michele M. Leonhart to be the DEA’s deputy administrator. Leonhart currently runs the DEA’s office in Los Angeles and has previously worked in the San Francisco office and at DEA headquarters in Washington.
Leonhart’s nomination must also be confirmed by the Senate.