Sara Carter Confirmed As Drug Czar

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is a small policy office inside the Executive Office of the President that is responsible for leading and coordinating the United States’ overall drug policy. By law, the ONDCP Director:

• Develops and issues the National Drug Control Strategy and the related federal drug-control budget.
• Coordinates and oversees anti-drug efforts of federal executive-branch agencies (e.g., DOJ/DEA, DHS, HHS) so their activities line up with the national strategy and with state and local efforts.
• Advises the President on changes to agencies’ organization, management, budgets, and staffing related to drug control, and can recommend shifting resources among agencies.
• Notifies agencies and Congress if an agency’s policies are not consistent with the National Drug Control Strategy.

The Director does not personally run the DEA or other law-enforcement agencies and has no arrest or prosecution powers, but has significant policy and budget influence over how federal anti-drug efforts are planned and coordinated.

“Drug Czar” is an informal nickname for the Director of ONDCP. In practice, the Director’s day‑to‑day responsibilities are those set out in law for the ONDCP Director, including:

• Leading development of the National Drug Control Strategy and updating it based on new trends (e.g., opioids, fentanyl).
• Coordinating 19 federal departments and agencies involved in drug control, often by running interagency meetings, resolving policy conflicts, and aligning agency plans with the Strategy.
• Overseeing and reviewing the federal drug-control budget and making recommendations to the President and agencies about funding priorities.
• Supervising key grant and coordination programs such as the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program and Drug-Free Communities grants.
• Consulting with state, local, Tribal, and international partners and representing the Administration’s drug policy in Congress and public forums.

So the “czar” role is chiefly policy, budget, and interagency coordination—not frontline law enforcement.

ONDCP Directors do not have a fixed term. Under federal law, the Director of National Drug Control Policy:

• Is appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.
• “Shall serve at the pleasure of the President,” meaning the President can keep, replace, or ask for the Director’s resignation at any time.

In practice, most Directors serve a few years and often change when a new administration takes office or when the President nominates a successor who is then confirmed by the Senate.

ONDCP coordinates with federal law enforcement and other agencies against drug cartels mainly through strategy, budgeting, and multi‑agency programs, rather than by running investigations itself. Key mechanisms include:

• National Drug Control Strategy & budget: The Director sets national drug-control goals, reviews agency drug-control budget requests, and recommends how resources should be allocated across DOJ (including DEA), DHS, State, Defense, HHS, and others to address major trafficking threats.
• Legal coordination role: By statute, the Director must “coordinate and oversee the implementation” of federal counter‑drug programs and “monitor and evaluate the allocation of resources among Federal law enforcement agencies in response to significant local and regional drug trafficking and production threats.”
• HIDTA program: ONDCP administers the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, which designates key trafficking regions and provides funding and coordination for over 900 multi‑agency initiatives that bring together federal, state, local, and Tribal law enforcement to share intelligence, run joint investigations, and deconflict operations.

Through these levers, ONDCP helps align DEA, FBI, DHS components, and other agencies’ operations and funding to focus on cartels and other major trafficking organizations.

“Narco‑terrorists” is a political/policy term, not a formal legal category.

• The term “narco‑terrorism” has no generally accepted definition in U.S. law; experts note it is used broadly for groups that use drug trafficking to fund terrorism or use terrorist‑style violence to advance drug trafficking.
• U.S. criminal statutes and sanctions regimes instead use defined categories like “terrorist organization,” “terrorism,” or “narcotics trafficker” with specific legal consequences; there is no separate statutory offense or designation called “narco‑terrorist.”

So when officials say “narco‑terrorists,” they are framing certain cartels or groups as both drug traffickers and terrorists, but prosecutions still rely on existing drug and terrorism laws, not on a special “narco‑terrorist” label.

A 52–48 confirmation vote almost certainly reflects a near‑party‑line, highly partisan outcome, not broad bipartisan support.

Recent high‑profile executive-branch confirmations with similar 52–48 or 51–49 margins have typically seen nearly all senators of the President’s party voting yes and nearly all of the opposing party voting no. Without a detailed roll‑call record for this specific vote, the exact breakdown is unknown, but the narrow margin indicates only a handful, if any, cross‑party votes.

ONDCP does not run most treatment or prevention services itself, but it controls or strongly influences several major funding streams and programs that affect what resources families can access:

• National Drug Control Budget: ONDCP develops and oversees the federal drug-control budget (over $40 billion), shaping how much money agencies like HHS (including SAMHSA and CDC), VA, DOJ, and others devote to prevention, treatment, recovery support, and harm reduction.
• High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program: Administered by ONDCP, HIDTA funds regional law‑enforcement and public‑health collaborations that, among other things, support overdose response strategies and link people and families to treatment and recovery services.
• Drug‑Free Communities (DFC) Support Program: ONDCP co‑administers this grant program, which gives community coalitions up to $125,000 per year to fund local youth substance‑use prevention, education, and related family‑support activities.

Through these budget and grant levers, the ONDCP Director can influence how much prevention, treatment, and recovery support is available to families nationwide and in specific communities.