Richard Gil Kerlikowske (born November 23, 1949) is a former Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He assumed office on March 6, 2014 and retired January 20, 2017. He also served as the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy between 2009 and 2014. Kerlikowske graduated from the University of South Florida in Tampa and the Executive Institute at the Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy. He has served as Chief of Police in four cities and worked in the United States Justice Department. His longest term as a Chief of Police was between July 2001 and March 2009 in Seattle, Washington. He faced scrutiny in Seattle for the department's tactics during civil unrest. In 2017, he was an IOP Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is currently a distinguished visiting fellow and professor of the Practice in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University. Early life and education Kerlikowske was raised in Florida by his mother and stepfather. Kerlikowske graduated from Fort Myers High School in 1968. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in criminal justice from the University of South Florida in Tampa. The school also gave him an honorary doctorate. He is a graduate of the National Executive Institute at the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Career Kerlikowske was drafted into the United States Army served from 1970 to 1972 in the military police, and was stationed in Washington, D.C. Part of his responsibility was saluting then-President Richard Nixon as he boarded the presidential helicopter and he was awarded the Presidential Service Badge. He began his law enforcement career in 1972 as a police officer for the St. Petersburg Police in Florida. He served as Chief of Police in Fort Pierce, Florida and Port St. Lucie, Florida. He later served as police commissioner for Buffalo, New York for about a year and a half. He served as a member of the United States Justice Department, where he oversaw community policing grants. His work in Washington D.C. earned praise from then-Attorney General Janet Reno and then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. Seattle Police Department Kerlikowske joined the Seattle Police Department in 2000. Mayor Paul Schell chose him as Seattle's new police chief in July 2001. Kerlikowske oversaw the demonstrations marking the second anniversary of the controversial WTO conference in Seattle which had caused his predecessor, Norm Stamper, to resign. Although the event was