Mark E. Murtha

Mark E. Murtha is a retired federal Supervisory Special Agent and senior security leader with more than three decades of experience in law enforcement, national security operations, transnational investigations, and executive training. During a distinguished career with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), he held numerous command and leadership positions across domestic and international environments, overseeing complex operations targeting organized crime, narco-terrorism, financial networks, and emerging security threats.

Mr. Murtha served as a Supervisory Special Agent in the DEA’s Washington Division, where he directed multidisciplinary investigative teams conducting international undercover financial and narcotics investigations involving transnational criminal organizations operating across Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Latin America. In this role, he managed significant enforcement actions, intelligence coordination, and interagency operations, including oversight of cases that resulted in seizures exceeding $20 million. He also served as Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge for approximately ten months, supervising 14 subordinate supervisors and 109 personnel across multiple jurisdictions while administering a $7.4 million operational budget and managing regulatory and compliance investigations across Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. 

His interagency responsibilities included representation on the U.S. Attorney’s Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, the DHS/TSA Joint Security Group at Washington Dulles International Airport, and National Response Framework Emergency Support Function teams responsible for coordinated national emergency response. He also directed security operations for high-profile international narco-terrorism cases and hosted foreign law enforcement delegations for operational briefings. 

In his later federal career, Mr. Murtha transitioned to senior training and capability development roles at the DEA Office of Training in Quantico, Virginia. As Unit Chief of the Tactical Training Unit and later Supervisory Special Agent responsible for personnel recovery programs, he directed teams of law enforcement subject-matter experts and former military special operations personnel delivering advanced tactical instruction, survival training for overseas deployments, and operational readiness programs for high-risk environments.

Mr. Murtha also serves as an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, Global Campus (UMGC).  

Mr. Murtha has a Master of Science in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University; Graduate Certificate (Executive Leaders Program) from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and a second Graduate Certificate from the Naval Postgraduate School; Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice, State University of New York at Buffalo and graduate of the DEA Supervisors Institute, University of Virginia.