Terry Cole is Washington DC's ‘emergency’ police chief: 5 facts about DEA head

Attorney General Pam Bondi named Terry Cole as Washington’s 'emergency police commissioner'.

Updated on: Aug 15, 2025, 09:33:37 IST

By Shuvrajit Das Biswas

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Terry Cole, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been named Washington DC's ‘emergency’ police chief. Attorney General Pam Bondi's announcement on Thursday came amid a driven effort to execute President Donald Trump's plans of taking over the Washington Police Department.

With Terry Cole acting as DC's 'emergency' police chief, it is unclear what Pamela Smith, the current police chief will do. (DEA)

Bondi announced that Cole was being given the powers of the police chief, meaning the Metropolitan Police Department must have Cole's approval before they can issue any orders.

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Here's five things to know about Washington's ‘emergency’ police chief.

Terry Cole: 5 facts about DC's ‘emergency’ police chief

- Terry Cole has spent 31 years in law enforcement, 22 of which have been with the DEA

- He had range of domestic and international assignments, including Oklahoma, New York, Washington, D.C., Colombia, Afghanistan, and the Middle East

- Cole served as Virginia's Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security in Governor Youngkin’s cabinet from 2023 to 2025, at which time he was named the DEA administrator

- Cole also served as a Naval Academy Blue and Gold Officer and was a certified Police Officer in the State of New York

- Cole graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a BA in Criminal Justice and has certificates in Leadership from the University of Virginia and the University of Notre Dame Mendoza School of Business. He also pursued continuing education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan Executive School for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Bondi's announcement did not make it clear what the future held for Pamela Smith, DC's current police chief, who answers to the mayor. Ahead of Bondi's announcement, Smith had instructed Washington police to share information with immigration agencies concerning people not in custody, like someone involved in a traffic stop or checkpoint. The Justice Department, however, said that Bondi disagreed with the top cop's directive, as it allowed for continued enforcement of ‘sanctuary policies’.

(With AP inputs)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shuvrajit Das Biswas
Shuvrajit has over seven years of experience covering US, India, and world news. An English Literature postgraduate from Jadavpur University, Shuvrajit started off covering entertainment, gaming and all things pop culture. There were brief periods away from the media industry, with short stints in content marketing, ed-tech and academic editing. However, the newsroom beckoned and over the last few jobs, Shuvrajit has exceedingly focused on team functioning as well, including tracking news and assigning tasks, working on everyday breaking news, framing detailed coverage plans, and creating immersive and data-driven stories. In his time as a digital journalist, he has covered a Lok Sabha election, multiple state elections, Union Budgets and award ceremonies. He has also helped in planning content for company event panels in the past. For work, Shuvrajit enjoys dabbling with data visualization, editing tools, and AI chatbots and attempts to incorporate AI workflows in everyday tasks. He is deeply interested in geopolitics, sports, films and music. Prompting is a new fascination for Shuvrajit now. Apart from that, he can be found doom-scrolling, sharing memes, or cheering on his favorite football team.Read More

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