| Motto: | Stronger Through Partnership |
| Formed: | 1982 |
| Employees: | 2,464 total, including 1195 Special Agents and 543 Attorneys (Authorized FY2023) |
| Budget: | $550.5 M USD (Authorized FY2023) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Chief1name: | Adam W. Cohen |
| Chief1position: | Director |
The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) is a federal drug enforcement program in the United States, overseen by the Attorney General and the Department of Justice. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the major drug trafficking operations and tackle related crimes, such as money laundering, tax and weapon violations, and violent crime, and prosecute those primarily responsible for the nation's drug supply.[1]
In January 1982, President Ronald Reagan designated Vice President George H. W. Bush to lead a cross-agency drug interdiction team called the South Florida Task Force. Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Customs Service, in tandem with the United States Coast Guard were brought in to deal with the surge of drug smuggling through the Miami metropolitan area. According to an agency history by Rudy Giuliani, while the South Florida Task Force was a success, drug smuggling had moved to new ports as evidenced by larger seizures elsewhere.[2]
Desiring a more comprehensive, nationwide attack to reduce the supply of illegal drugs in the United States, President Reagan announced the formation of the OCDETF Program on October 14, 1982.[3] [4] [5]
Organized Crime Drug Enforcement appeared in congressional appropriation legislation as a part of the United States Department of Justice budget with the Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 1983, introduced in December 1982.[6]
The OCDETF is the centerpiece of the Attorney General's drug supply reduction strategy. It is funded through the annual Interagency Crime and Drug Enforcement (ICDE) appropriation of the Department of Justice. It describes its mission is "to reduce the supply of illegal drugs in the United States and diminish the associated violence and other transnational organized criminal activities, including violent street gangs,[7] that present the greatest threat to public safety as well as economic and national security."[8]
The OCDETF consists of an Executive Office, which coordinates the drug enforcement efforts of multiple agencies from several cabinet departments including:
Enforcement efforts are conducted through the DOJ Criminal Division; the 94 United States Attorneys Offices; and other Federal, State, local, tribal, and international law enforcement agencies.
Geographically, the OCDETF is organized into nine regions, each with its own Advisory Council and Coordination Group. These groups set policies and priorities for their regions and conduct final review of cases proposed for OCDETF designation. At the district level, District Coordination Groups review cases proposed for OCDETF designation, ensure appropriate resource allocation, and monitor local case progress.[9]
Each of the ninety-three federal judicial districts is placed into one of nine OCDETF regions based on geographic proximity. Within each region, a "core city" was designated.[10]
| Task Force Region | Core City | |
| New England | ||
| New York/New Jersey | New York City | |
| Mid-Atlantic | ||
| Great Lakes | ||
| Southeast | ||
| West Central | ||
| Florida/Caribbean | ||
| Southwest | ||
| Pacific |
The OCDETF coordinates the annual formulation of the Consolidated Priority Organization Target (CPOT) List, a multi-agency target list of "command and control" elements of the most prolific international drug trafficking and money laundering organizations nationally. The OCDETF also requires its participants to identify major Regional Priority Organization Targets (RPOT) as part of an annual Regional Strategic Plan process.[11]
Established by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Program in 2004, the OCDETF Fusion Center (OFC) is a multi-agency intelligence center designed to provide intelligence information to investigations and prosecutions focused on disrupting and dismantling drug trafficking and money laundering organizations.[12]
In May 2009, the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Council established the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2) to marshal the resources and information of federal law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to collectively combat the threats posed by international criminal organizations. In recognition of the demonstrated interrelationship between criminal organizations that engage in illicit drug trafficking and those that engage in international organized crime involving a broader range of criminal activity, the IOC-2 works in close partnership with the OFC and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Special Operations Division (a member of the United States Intelligence Community). The IOC-2 is co-located with the OFC and shares access to the OFC’s database. Its products are indistinguishable from OFC products except that they focus on targets under investigation for a broader variety of criminal activity than just illicit drug trafficking.
From the formation of the organization to 2006, OCDETF operations have led to more than 44,000 drug-related convictions and the seizure of over $3 billion in monetary and property assets.[13]
The United States Department of Justice Criminal Division's s Office of Enforcement Operations reviews DOJ components' Title III wiretap applications. In the three year span of calendar years 2016, 2017, and 2018 there were 6,964 OCDETF-related Title III applications.[14]
In budget materials submitted to Congress, the OCDETF has provided measurements of its Investigation and prosecution statistics.
| Active investigations | 4,685 | 4,822 | 5,076 | 4,910 | |
| New investigations initiated | 956 | 947 | 888 | 837 | |
| Defendants Indicted | 9,756 | 10,308 | 8,149 | 8,293 | |
| Defendants convicted | 7,611 | 8,082 | 5,981 | 5,778 |