Update: On February 11, President Donald Trump announced he was nominating Virginian public safety official, Terry Cole, to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Derek Maltz, Trump’s pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration as acting administrator, served in a leadership role at a surveillance tech company that has won over $200 million in federal contracts.
After retiring from the DEA in 2014, Maltz went to work for Nebraska-based PenLink, which sells surveillance tools to law enforcement, including a software that can track cell phones without a warrant. That software has been purchased by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the DEA, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and sheriffs’ offices and city police departments, among other agencies, according to public records.