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Myles Ambrose, a leader in war on drugs, dies at 87
By MATT SCHUDEL
June 15, 2014
Myles Ambrose, a onetime commissioner of the U.S. Customs Bureau who was tapped as the federal government's drug czar during the Nixon administration and who helped organize the Drug Enforcement Administration, died June 3 at a hospital in Leesburg, Virginia. He was 87.
The cause was congestive heart failure, his daughter Elise Ambrose said.
A onetime federal prosecutor, Myles Ambrose built a reputation as a gang-busting crime fighter with the Treasury Department in the 1950s. In the early 1960s, he headed a commission charged with rooting out corruption and organized crime on the New York City waterfront.
Photos: Recent notable deaths | Shocking celebrity deaths
He had a "flair for innovation," The New York Times noted in 1969, "that brought results in cleaning up the waterfront and gained him a reputation among associates as 'a boat-rocker who doesn't mind getting wet.' " When Ambrose was named commissioner of the old U.S. Customs Bureau in 1969, he became one of the federal government's most prominent leaders in what was beginning to be called the war on drugs. He greatly expanded the profile of the bureau -- now part of the Department of Homeland Security -- and added thousands of employees and millions to its budget.
Ambrose reorganized its investigative arm to fight drug smugglers and established fleets of helicopters, airplanes and speedboats. During his tenure, the bureau began to use drug-sniffing dogs, which were credited with detecting shipments of marijuana and heroin. He hired some of the federal government's first female law enforcement officers for the bureau, and helped set up methadone-treatment programs to encourage drug addicts to kick their habits.
In 1969, Ambrose launched Operation Intercept, a controversial program in which federal agents searched cars for drugs as they entered the United States at the Mexican border. The backups lasted for hours.
The operation was discontinued after a few weeks because of fraying relations between the two countries. But the point was made, and Mexican law enforcement agencies increased efforts to stop drug shipments.
The rate of drug seizures by U.S. customs officers increased dramatically under Ambrose.
The next year, President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse the country's "No. 1 domestic problem" and chose Ambrose to solve it. The new Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement, sometimes called ODALE, was operated out of the White House under the auspices of the Justice Department.
As he pulled his office together as an ad hoc drug-busting department, he fought turf battles with other agencies until Nixon asked Ambrose to consolidate them into one organization, the Drug Enforcement Administration.
I
n July 1973, just as Ambrose was about to become the first DEA director, he abruptly resigned. His family said he went into private law practice to support his six children.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/...-dead-leader-in-war-on-drugs-was-87-1.8457121
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Hup seeya.. wonder what this person thought of all the misery he created.
By MATT SCHUDEL
June 15, 2014
Myles Ambrose, a onetime commissioner of the U.S. Customs Bureau who was tapped as the federal government's drug czar during the Nixon administration and who helped organize the Drug Enforcement Administration, died June 3 at a hospital in Leesburg, Virginia. He was 87.
The cause was congestive heart failure, his daughter Elise Ambrose said.
A onetime federal prosecutor, Myles Ambrose built a reputation as a gang-busting crime fighter with the Treasury Department in the 1950s. In the early 1960s, he headed a commission charged with rooting out corruption and organized crime on the New York City waterfront.
Photos: Recent notable deaths | Shocking celebrity deaths
He had a "flair for innovation," The New York Times noted in 1969, "that brought results in cleaning up the waterfront and gained him a reputation among associates as 'a boat-rocker who doesn't mind getting wet.' " When Ambrose was named commissioner of the old U.S. Customs Bureau in 1969, he became one of the federal government's most prominent leaders in what was beginning to be called the war on drugs. He greatly expanded the profile of the bureau -- now part of the Department of Homeland Security -- and added thousands of employees and millions to its budget.
Ambrose reorganized its investigative arm to fight drug smugglers and established fleets of helicopters, airplanes and speedboats. During his tenure, the bureau began to use drug-sniffing dogs, which were credited with detecting shipments of marijuana and heroin. He hired some of the federal government's first female law enforcement officers for the bureau, and helped set up methadone-treatment programs to encourage drug addicts to kick their habits.
In 1969, Ambrose launched Operation Intercept, a controversial program in which federal agents searched cars for drugs as they entered the United States at the Mexican border. The backups lasted for hours.
The operation was discontinued after a few weeks because of fraying relations between the two countries. But the point was made, and Mexican law enforcement agencies increased efforts to stop drug shipments.
The rate of drug seizures by U.S. customs officers increased dramatically under Ambrose.
The next year, President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse the country's "No. 1 domestic problem" and chose Ambrose to solve it. The new Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement, sometimes called ODALE, was operated out of the White House under the auspices of the Justice Department.
As he pulled his office together as an ad hoc drug-busting department, he fought turf battles with other agencies until Nixon asked Ambrose to consolidate them into one organization, the Drug Enforcement Administration.
I
n July 1973, just as Ambrose was about to become the first DEA director, he abruptly resigned. His family said he went into private law practice to support his six children.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/...-dead-leader-in-war-on-drugs-was-87-1.8457121
........................................................................................................................................................................
Hup seeya.. wonder what this person thought of all the misery he created.
