Brian S. Besser is a 30-year law enforcement veteran who has spent the past 24 years with the Drug Enforcement Administration serving in multiple assignments across the domestic United States.  Mr. Besser was promoted to the Senior Executive Service in 2019, assuming the role of Deputy Assistant Administrator over the Office of Diversion Control Operations, and then Interim Assistant Administrator over the Diversion Control Division at DEA Headquarters in Arlington, VA.  In these assignments, Mr. Besser was responsible for overseeing DEA’s global program for regulating more than 1.9 million DEA registrants across the entire pharmaceutical supply chain.  Mr. Besser also spearheaded DEA’s domestic and international efforts to prevent, detect and investigate the diversion of pharmaceutical controlled substances and listed chemicals.

In February 2022, Mr. Besser assumed the role of Special Agent in Charge of the Denver Field Division.  As the Special Agent in Charge, Mr. Besser leads a large and diverse workforce comprised of Special Agents, Diversion Investigators, Intelligence Analysts, Task Force Officers, professional staff, and contractors, located within 13 offices across Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana. Mr. Besser maintains oversight responsibility for the investigative, enforcement, intelligence, and regulatory strategies of the Denver Field Division, while facilitating DEA’s efforts to target the highest echelon of international drug traffickers, transnational criminal organizations, and violent gangs.

Mr. Besser was hired with the DEA as a Special Agent in November 1997, in Greenville, South Carolina.  Soon after, he was assigned to the New York Field Division, Syracuse Resident Office where he worked as a field Special Agent until he was promoted in January 2009, to the position of Resident Agent in Charge of the Rockford, Illinois Resident Office within the Chicago Field Division.  In this assignment, he was responsible for overseeing all DEA enforcement operations in Northwestern Illinois.

In July 2015, Mr. Besser reported to DEA Headquarters as a Staff Coordinator assigned to the Office of Operations Management, where he was responsible for developing agency-wide policy initiatives and compliance standards.  In October 2015, he was promoted to the position of Section Chief over DEA's global program for Security & Emergency Planning where he was responsible for managing DEA’s initiatives for developing, implementing, and maintaining functional emergency plans for optimum agency preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation to disaster events.

In June 2016, Mr. Besser reported to the Denver Division, Salt Lake City District Office as the District Agent in Charge, responsible for overseeing all of DEA’s enforcement operations and administrative functions in the Federal District of Utah.  In this assignment, Mr. Besser managed and directed over 100 personnel comprised of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers, intelligence analysts, diversion investigators, and professional staff.  He also served as the Commander of the Salt Lake City Metro Narcotics Task Force; the largest HIDTA-funded cooperative task force in the Rocky Mountain Region.

Mr. Besser earned a Bachelor of Science from Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC, and is completing his Master of Theology from Maranatha Baptist Seminary.  He began his law enforcement career in 1991 as a police officer with the Greenville County (SC) Sheriff’s Office.