NEW DEA CHIEF PLANS TOUGH APPROACH

WASHINGTON - Karen Tandy, the first woman to head the Drug Enforcement
Administration, said Friday she plans to lead a multi-level attack on
international drug traffickers and their money supply.

The North Texas native, a long-time federal prosecutor and Justice
Department official, was confirmed late Thursday to replace Asa
Hutchison, who is now undersecretary for border security in the new
Homeland Security Department.

Tandy's appointment cleared the Senate without dissent, although two
senators had expressed misgivings earlier about what they called her
hard-line view on the issue of medical marijuana.

In written answers to the Senate Judiciary Committee in June, Tandy,
49, defended DEA raids against marijuana providers, and said the drug
"has not been shown to have medical benefits."

That was disputed by the Marijuana Policy Project, a medical marijuana
advocacy group in Washington. Spokesman Steve Fox said Tandy has
ignored studies that did find medicinal value in marijuna.

Tandy said the focus of the TEA's 4,600 agents will be dismantling
international drug organizations and cutting off their money supply.
"At least $ 65 billion a year changes hands every year for drugs," she
said in a telephone interview Friday. Tandy said the DEA will take a
multi-layered approach to attacking major trafficking operations and
plans to coordinate DEA resources with state and local authorities,
other federal agencies and international officials. "A key piece in
this is developing our partnerships overseas, so we can work together
hand and glove," she said.

Since terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the Justice Department has
shifted some of its attention and staff from the decades-long war on
drugs and focused more on combating terrorism.

Tandy grew up in Hurst, northeast of Fort Worth, and has both an
undergraduate and a law degree from Texas Tech University.

She has worked as a federal prosecutor in Washington state and
Virginia. Most recently, she ran the Justice Department's Organized
Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces program with oversight of DEA and
the National Drug Intelligence Center.