McCaffrey, Barry R.

Appointed by President William Clinton and confirmed by Congress in 1996, General Barry R. McCaffrey (1942–) served as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), or “drug czar,” from 1996 to 2001. McCaffrey served during a period of rapid expansion of the ONDCP's role and personally embarked on a campaign to raise the office's national profile.

Prior to McCaffrey's appointment, during the tenure of Lee P. Brown, McCaffrey's immediate predecessor as ONDCP director, President Clinton signed Executive Order (EO) 12880, which clarified and expanded the authority and responsibilities of ONDCP. Among other things, the order established an interagency working group on international counternarcotics activity, required that the ONDCP director designate a drug interdiction coordinator to ensure that resources dedicated to interdiction were sufficient ...