Michael Braun formerly served Chief of Operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration. He was responsible for DEA's 227 domestic and 87 foreign offices and several divisions. Mr. Braun was the first interim director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Intelligence Fusion Center and was responsible for leading the development of that multi-agency, national drug intelligence center that supports the national drug strategy and the war on terrorism.

Mr. Braun joined the DEA in 1985, where he served as a Special Agent in the St. Louis Division. In 1991, he was promoted to the rank of Supervisory Special Agent and was assigned to a special enforcement project in Latin America. He led host nation counterparts and DEA Special Agents on drug enforcement operations in the jungles of South and Central America to disrupt the production and transportation systems supporting the cocaine industry. After serving in senior roles in DEA offices in Houston, Los Angeles, Detroit, and DEA headquarters, Mr. Braun was detailed in June 2003 to the Department of Defense to serve on special assignment in Iraq as the Chief of Staff for the Interim Ministry of Interior, Coalition Provisional Authority. He assisted in creating the new Iraqi National Police Service and Customs and Borders agencies, and with developing plans to rebuild the public safety segment of the Iraqi security infrastructure.

Mr. Braun served in the U.S. Marine Corps served from 1971 to 1973 as an infantryman, including limited service in Vietnam. He received a B.S. degree in Criminal Justice in 1977 from Southeast Missouri State University, and he has attended a number of government, military, and private leadership courses, including the Senior Managers in Government Program at Harvard University and the National Executive Institute.

Michael Braun is a leader in investigating the criminal-terrorist nexus, and his lecture last year at the Washington Institute is included in WINEP's latest volume on countering transnational threats, edited by Matthew Levitt and Michael Jacobson. He is now a security consultant and officer at Spectre Group International, LLC in northern Virginia.