National HIDTA Program

1. National HIDTA Program
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas
Presenters:
• Shannon Kelly, MA, Deputy Director, National HIDTA
Program, Office of National Drug Control Policy
• James F. Bohn, JD, Director, Wisconsin HIDTA
• Jack Killorin, Director, Atlanta-Carolinas HIDTA
Federal Track
Moderator: Sarah T. Melton, PharmD, Associate Professor of
Pharmacy Practice, Gatton College of Pharmacy, East Tennessee
State University

2. Learning Objectives
1. Explain the HIDTA program.
2. Identify potential areas for collaboration in
drug-trafficking responses in various regions
of the country.
3. Describe innovative HIDTA operations and
initiatives.

3. High Intensity Drug Trafficking
Areas (HIDTA)
March 30, 2016

4. Office of National Drug Control Policy
• Part of the Executive Office of the President
• Coordinates drug-control activities and related funding across the
Federal Government
• Produces the annual National Drug Control Strategy
• Administers two national grant programs: High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) and Drug-Free Communities

5. • Provides assistance to Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies
in critical drug trafficking regions of the United States.
• Fiscal Year 2016 funding level of $250 million.
• 28 regional HIDTAs in 48 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and
Washington, D.C.
• Achieves its purpose by:
– Facilitates cooperation among Federal, state, local, and tribal law
enforcement to share intelligence and implement enforcement activities.
– Supports coordinated law enforcement strategies to reduce the supply of
illegal drugs in the United States.
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas
(HIDTA) Program and Purpose

7. • The HIDTA program is not an agency: it is a partnership
of Federal, state, local, and tribal agencies
• Each HIDTA program has an executive board that:
– Has an equal number of Federal, state, and local members
– Has discretion to decide what is funded and where funds are
spent
– Identifies regional and local threats
– Develops a strategy to address threats
– Requests funding for HIDTA initiatives to implement the
strategy
– Measures and reports performance
– Hires a HIDTA director to administer HIDTA functions
HIDTA Program Structure

8. HIDTA requirements:
– Area is a significant center of illegal drug production,
manufacturing, importation, or distribution;
– State, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies have
committed resources to respond to drug trafficking in the
area, this indicates willingness to address the issue;
– Drug-related activities in the area have a significant harmful
impact in the area and in other areas of the country; and
– Federal resources are necessary to respond adequately to drug
related activities in the area.
Criteria for HIDTA Designation

9. HIDTA Program Accomplishments
In 2015, the HIDTA Program:
• 2,500 drug trafficking or money laundering organizations disrupted
or dismantled.
• $18.6 billion (wholesale) removed from the marketplace .
• 36,000 fugitives apprehended.
• 31,000 leads provided to law enforcement agencies across the
country.
• 98,000 officers, agents, analysts, and support staff trained on drug-
related topics.

10. HIDTA Program Participants
The HIDTA Program brings together:
• 737 initiatives in 28 regional programs
• 7,400 Federal agents and analysts
• 15,700 state, local, and tribal officers, analysts, and other
representatives
• 500 agencies, including public health agencies to coordinate and
collaborate with HIDTA task forces
• 59 intelligence and investigative support centers/information sharing
initiatives

11. The HIDTA Program employs a three-pronged approach to
address the trafficking and use of heroin and other opioids:
– Law enforcement initiatives and task forces that target the
diversion and trafficking of heroin, fentanyl and other opioids
– Public health and prevention efforts to reduce heroin and
nonmedical opioid use and its consequences
– HIDTA-sponsored law enforcement training courses that
address heroin and other opioid trafficking
HIDTA Program Efforts to Address the
Nation’s Heroin & Opioid Epidemic

12. HIDTA Law Enforcement Efforts
• Targeting large-scale heroin trafficking – Southwest Border
HIDTA – New Mexico Region
• Dismantling a heroin- and fentanyl-trafficking organization –
New England HIDTA
• Dismantling a multi-state oxycodone trafficking organization –
Northwest HIDTA
• Dismantling a Dilaudid-trafficking organization – Gulf Coast
HIDTA

13. HIDTA Public Health & Prevention Efforts
• Naloxone use by law enforcement officers – Multiple regional
HIDTA programs
• No More NAS (Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome) Initiative –
Appalachia HIDTA
• Snohomish County Opiate Project – Northwest HIDTA
• Heroin: Not Even Once Initiative – Midwest HIDTA
• SCOPE of Pain Initiative – New England HIDTA
• Safe & Sound Initiative – Wisconsin HIDTA

14. HIDTA Training Efforts
Each year, regional HIDTA programs sponsor training courses that
address the diversion and use of heroin and other opioids.
Examples include:
• HIDTA Heroin Symposium – Philadelphia/Camden HIDTA
• Meeting the Opiate Challenge – Wisconsin HIDTA
• Investigating Heroin-Trafficking Organizations – Ohio HIDTA
• Investigating Prescription Drug Crimes – New England HIDTA
• Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations and Heroin Awareness
for Law Enforcement – Los Angeles HIDTA

15. HIDTA Heroin Response Strategy
• ONDCP has committed $2.5 million in HIDTA funds to develop a
strategy to respond to the Nation’s heroin epidemic.
• Three main goals:
– Enhance the Drug Intelligence Officer Network
– Foster critical public health-public safety partnerships through a
State of the Region Symposium
– Educate and raise awareness through an online initiative and
further prevention efforts in collaboration with the Partnership
for Drug-Free Kids

16. Contact Information
Michael K. Gottlieb
Director, National HIDTA Program
Assistant Deputy Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy
(202) 395-4868
mgottlieb@ondcp.eop.gov
Shannon Kelly
Deputy Director, National HIDTA Program
(202) 395-5872
skelly@ondcp.eop.gov