Ambrose, Myles

Myles Ambrose has often been referred to as the U.S. federal government's first “drug czar.” During the time he spent in the Nixon administration, Ambrose helped shape and enact the president's drug enforcement policies. Ambrose was one of the key figures involved with the formation of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which combined several federal agencies, including the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE) and the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD).

Ambrose completed his Bachelor of Business Administration at Manhattan College in 1948. In 1951 he received his Juris Doctor degree from New York Law School. Following the completion of his legal studies, Ambrose served as an assistant U.S. district [Page 21]attorney in New York. Additionally, Ambrose served as the executive director of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, as well as the assistant to the secretary for law enforcement in the U.S. Treasury Department. In 1959 Ambrose co-chaired a series of meetings between officials of the United States and Mexico in an effort toward mutual collaboration to deal with the ingress of illegal drugs into the United States.

In January 1972 President Richard Nixon, under Executive Order 11641, established the Office of Drug Law Enforcement (ODALE) as a domestic federal drug enforcement police force. President Nixon appointed Ambrose the director of ODALE. Ambrose's additional duties as the ODALE director included serving as special assistant attorney general and special consultant for drug abuse law enforcement to President Nixon. Ambrose developed ODALE as a temporary task force to determine the effectiveness of federal and local police cooperation at dealing with the drug trade at the street level.

During his 18-month tenure as the ODALE director, the organization faced controversy regarding police raids on the homes of innocent citizens and suspected unconstitutional police practices. One especially notorious set of ODALE taskforce miscues became known as the Collinsville raids. The controversial incursions occurred during a sequence of ODALE-directed taskforce raids in the Collinsville, Illinois, area. In the two most famous cases, ODALE agents, without warrants, entered the homes of Herbert Giglotto and Donald Askew. The agents failed to identify themselves and threatened and harassed the occupants of the homes. Director Ambrose came under fire for his failure to adequately discipline the agents. He faced additional controversy through his justification of the excessive force and abuse that the wrongfully accused had faced at the hands of ODALE taskforce agents.

Ambrose had been earmarked by President Nixon to head the DEA. However, Ambrose resigned his position as ODALE director and special assistant attorney general when the news was made public regarding a vacation he had taken at the property of a Texas rancher who was facing criminal charges related to drugs and gun running.

From 1969 to the time of his appointment as ODALE director, Ambrose served as the customs commissioner at the Treasury Department under President Nixon. Under Ambrose's direction, in September 1969 the Customs Department initiated Operation Intercept. The operation was an attempt to stem the flow of marijuana being smuggled into the United States from Mexico. The substance of the operation involved the mandatory search of each vehicle returning to the United States from Mexico. Operation Intercept is generally regarded as the first set of significant measures taken in what President Nixon called America's “War on Drugs.”

...