NTD News: Cartels Facing 'Neutralization' After US Strike on Drug Boat: Former DEA Special Agent

Sep 4, 2025

This video interview first appeared on NTD.com.

The U.S. military recently targeted a suspected Tren de Aragua drug smuggling vessel in international waters off Venezuela, resulting in 11 deaths. To better understand the operation and its broader implications, NTD spoke with former DEA senior special agent Michael Brown, now serving as the global director of counternarcotics technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices.

 

Views expressed in this interview are the opinions of the correspondent and guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Rigaku Analytical Devices.

 

 

Michael W. Brown is the global director of counter-narcotics technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices. He has a distinguished career spanning more than 32 years as a Special Agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He served as the country attaché in India and Myanmar; During his tour in Myanmar, he provided foreign advisory support for counter narcotic enforcement that, to date, has resulted in the interdiction of over US$250 million in precursor chemicals and implementing the regions first use of Raman spectroscopy to degrade the supply chain for narcotics production. He was also part of a special specialized counter narcotics unit operating in the jungles of South America tasked with locating and destroying drug labs and narcotic supply chains. Most recently he was the DEA Headquarters staff coordinator for the Office of Foreign Operations for the Middle East-Europe-Afghanistan-India. Michael is a graduate of the United States Ranger Training Battalion and has a master’s degree in interdisciplinary technology and management from the University of Eastern Michigan.

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