Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force

Federal drug enforcement program in the United States

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.

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. 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. text=These task forces, under the direction of the Attorney General, will work closely with State and local law enforcement officials. Following the south Florida example, they'll utilize the resources of the Federal Government, including the FBI, the DEA, the IRS, the ATF, Immigration and Naturalization Service, United States Marshals Services, the U. S. Customs Service, and the Coast Guard. In addition, in some regions Department of Defense tracking and pursuit capability will be made available. I believe that these task forces will allow us to mount an intensive and coordinated campaign against international and domestic drug trafficking and other organized criminal enterprises.|author=Ronald Reagan|title=Remarks Announcing Federal Initiatives Against Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime|multiline=true

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.

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, that present the greatest threat to public safety as well as economic and national security."

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. Task Force Region Core City New England Boston New York/New Jersey New York City Mid Atlantic Baltimore Great Lakes Chicago Southeast Atlanta West Central St. Louis Florida/Caribbean Miami Southwest Houston Pacific San Francisco

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.

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. 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. 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.

GGD 87 29BR "Criminal Penalties Resulting From the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces." Published: Dec 22, 1986
GGD 87 64BR "Drug Investigations: Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program's Accomplishments." Published: May 06, 1987
OSI 89 19 "Nontraditional Organized Crime: Law Enforcement Officials' Perspectives on Five Criminal Groups." Published: Sep 29, 1989. GGD 94 143 "INS Drug Task Force Activities: Federal Agencies Supportive of INS Efforts." Published: Jul 07, 1994
GAO 01 78 "Illegal Aliens: INS Participation in Antigang Task Forces in Los Angeles." Published: Oct 26, 2000
GAO 05 122 "Drug Control: High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas' Efforts to Link Investigations to International Drug Traffickers." Published: Jan 28, 2005
GAO 09 63 "Drug Control: Better Coordination with the Department of Homeland Security and an Updated Accountability Framework can Further Enhance DEA's Efforts to Meet Post 9/11 Responsibilities." Published: Mar 20, 2009
GAO 18 10 "Counternarcotics: Overview of U. S. Efforts in the Western Hemisphere." Published: Oct 13, 2017
GAO 18 205 "Illicit Opioids: While Greater Attention Given to Combating Synthetic Opioids, Agencies Need to Better Assess their Efforts." Published: Mar 29, 2018