Obama picks Seattle police chief for drug czar

Gil Kerlikowske, the newly named director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, with Vice President Joseph Biden. (Photo: CHRIS KLEPONIS/AFP/Getty Images)

by Frank James

President Barack Obama selected Gil Kerlikowske, the Seattle police chief known as a policing innovator, to be the nation's next drug czar at a time of increased worries about drug-related crimes on the U.S.-Mexico border and growing concerns about prescription drug abuse, especially among younger Americans.

Kerlikowske, 59, "has the expertise, the experience, and the sound judgment to lead our national efforts against drug trafficking and use, and he will make an excellent addition to my administration," said Obama in a statement released by the White House.

Kerlikowske's nomination to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy would require Senate confirmation.

Obama's nominee promised to take on one of the most vexing problems in the drug war, the frequent lack of coordination and common purpose between law enforcement, courts and prevention and drug rehabilitation community.

"For too long, we have operated... in silos when it comes to making our country drug free and reducing the demand for drugs," Kerlikowske said at an event at the Old Executive Office Building where he was introduced by Vice President Biden.

"It's an incredibly complex problem, and it requires prosecutors and law enforcement, courts, treatment providers, and prevention programs to exchange information and to work together. And our priority should be a seamless, comprehensive approach."

During his 30-year police career, Kerlikowske was known as a strong advocate of community policing in which police form strong relationships in neighborhoods as a way of embedding themselves in communities. The practice has proved to be a very effective crime control method.

He also has experience working in the presidential administration, serving as community-policing administrator in President Bill Clinton's Justice Department where he worked with now Attorney General Eric Holder.

In his nine years as Seattle's top cop, the crime rate in that city fell to its lowest level in four decades.

And while he has a national reputation as one of the nation's most respected police administrators, he has also at time during his career angered police unions, city councils and citizens.

For instance, he outraged Seattle cops in 2002 for publicly rebuking a police officer whose behavior toward some jaywalkers Kerlikowske considered beyond the pale. That led to a no-confidence vote from the union.

But he also was harshly criticized by the NAACP and others for allegedly not going far enough to rein in officers accused of police brutality.

Time magazine reported in February that Kerlikowske was Obama's choice for the drug post and had an informative report on Kerlikowske's career.