DEA Head to Quit, Wants More Time With Family

Thomas A. Constantine, a onetime state trooper in New York who rose to become head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, announced Monday that he is resigning his post after five years to spend more time with his family.

The 60-year-old Constantine said in an interview that, although he is proud of increases in drug arrests and seizures made by his 4,600 agents around the world, international drug cartels have proved an increasing menace.

“I don’t think we’ve lost ground. I think what’s happened is the drug traffickers, especially in Mexico, have become much more powerful and much more dangerous,” he said.

Constantine has been a particularly strident critic of unchecked corruption among Mexico’s drug lords, putting him at odds with other members of the Clinton administration who have successfully argued for Mexico to be certified as a partner in the drug war. Decertification carries economic sanctions with it.

But the DEA administrator said that those differences had nothing to do with his resignation. Rather, he said that he and his wife, Ruth, had grown homesick and wanted to return to their roots in the Albany, N.Y., area to spend more time with their 11 grandchildren.

“We grew up as a close family, and [living in Washington] was a real shock to the culture of the Constantine family,” he said. “I still like [the job] and if it hadn’t been for all the family issues, I’d probably stick around till they took me out in the emergency service wagon.”

Constantine rose from the ranks to become head of the state police force in 1986. President Clinton then tapped him to lead the DEA in 1994, calling him a “street-smart” administrator.

Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, who heads the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said Monday that Constantine “did a super job as the nation’s top drug cop,” working hard to coordinate federal anti-drug efforts with local jurisdictions. “We owe him a huge debt of gratitude,” he said.

Donnie R. Marshall, now the DEA’s second-ranking administrator, likely will take over on an acting basis after Constantine steps down this summer.