WASHINGTON — The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Michele Leonhart, announced her retirement Tuesday afternoon, Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
Leonhart had faced mounting pressure to resign from members of Congress who questioned her competence in the wake of a scathing government watchdog report detailing allegations that agents attended sex parties with prostitutes.
Holder said Leonhart, a career drug agent who has led the agency since 2007, will leave the agency in mid-May.
“Michele has led this distinguished agency with honor, and I have been proud to call her my partner in the work of safeguarding our national security and protecting our citizens from crime, exploitation and abuse,” Holder said, crediting her with helping dismantle violent drug trafficking organizations.
Leonhart had been widely criticized for her response to the critical report on her agency, and a group of lawmakers said in a statement that she was “woefully unable to change” the agency’s culture.
Following a disastrous appearance before the House Oversight Committee last week, most committee members said they had lost confidence in her and said she “lacks the authority and will to make the tough decisions required to hold those accountable who compromise national security and bring disgrace to their positions.”
The Justice Department report that jeopardized Leonhart’s job recounted allegations that drug agents attended sex parties with prostitutes, some funded by local drug cartels, in a foreign country. The DEA said the incidents happened in Colombia.
The no-confidence statement was signed by 13 House Democrats and nine Republicans.
Robert Bonner, a former DEA administrator and Customs and Border Protection commissioner, told the luncheon audience that Leonhart was being unfairly blamed for agents’ misconduct. He said last week’s House hearing presented a “jumbled and distorted” picture of the agency, much of it untrue.
“Sadly, what we’re witnessing in Washington is gotcha politics in action,” he said.
