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On
March 16, 2006, Governor Jon S. Corzine created a cabinet-level
Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness in the Governor’s
Office and appointed Richard “Dick” Cañas as
the office’s first director.
Cañas
comes to his new position after eight years in the private sector,
following a career spanning 34 years in law enforcement, intelligence,
counter terrorism and policy making at the national level.
From 1998
to his appointment by Governor Corzine, Cañas served as
a Director at the nonprofit Concurrent Technologies Corporation,
where his main focus was on developing open source information
and technology to support the country’s emergency response
community.
Between 1996
and 1998, Cañas served as Director of the National Drug
Intelligence Center (NDIC) at Johnstown, Pennsylvania. During
his tenure, NDIC was recognized as the lead agency for national
strategic intelligence on the threats posed by drugs, gangs and
violence. From 1994 to 1996, he served as the Special Agent in
Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s)
Phoenix, Arizona Divisional Office. Prior to that, also in 1994,
Cañas was assigned by the DEA as Special Assistant to the
Latin American section of the Central Intelligence Agency.
On detachment
from the DEA, Cañas served from 1990 to 1994 on the White
House’s National Security Council (NSC). He was first appointed
to the NSC in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush as Director
for Counternarcotics. In 1992, following the change of administration,
Cañas was asked to remain at the NSC, where he served as
the Director for Counterterrorism and Counternarcotics under President
Bill Clinton. During this period, Cañas also served as
the Chair of the NSC’s Coordinating Sub Group for Counterterrorism,
which monitored several skyjackings as well as the first terrorist
attack on the World Trade Center.
Beginning
in 1972, Cañas served as a Special Agent of the DEA, where
for the next 24 years he worked his way up through the ranks.
While with the DEA, Cañas was used extensively by the State
Department and the CIA as a special advisor on sensitive foreign
terrorist activities
Prior to joining DEA, Cañas served as a patrolman and detective
for the City of Salinas, California.
During his
diverse career, Cañas received numerous awards including
eight Excellence in Management Awards from the DEA, and three
Presidential Letters of Commendation.
Cañas
is a graduate of the California State University at San Jose,
where he received a B.A. in Law Enforcement Administration. He
also holds a California Board of Education Lifetime Technical
Teaching Credential from the University of California, Berkeley.
Cañas also attended the Alameda County Police Academy in
Santa Rita, California, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous
Drugs Academy in Washington, D.C., and State Department Foreign
Service Institute Counterdrug Training in Rosslyn, Virginia.
Cañas
was born in El Salvador and is fluent in Spanish. He is married
to the former Elaine Betts Smith of Virginia and currently resides
in Lawrence Township, Mercer County.
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