[6] While running this unit, Bartels coordinated the activities of ten federal agencies and local law enforcement.

[7] Bartels performed investigations, interviewed suspects, worked alongside federal agents, and arranged for witness protection.

[10] As a result, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD), the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE); approximately 600 Special Agents of the Bureau of Customs, Customs Agency Service, and other federal offices merged to create the DEA.

[12][13][3][14] Bartels' predecessors represented great interagency rivalry and oppositional approaches to narcotics and drugs law enforcement; Finlator at BDAC treated addiction as a medical issue, Ingersoll at BNDD stressed the need for vast and long-term investigations of global syndicates, and Ambrose at Customs ran an agency that had been known for patting-down American citizens and mass arrests of low-level street dealers.

[15][12][5]Congress, and the Nixon Administration desired someone to lead the agency that was not from Customs (Ambrose) or BNDD (Ingersoll), which had been in constant interagency dispute.

[16] In an interview with Playboy Magazine, Bartels said: "There are a great number of people who regard narcotics agents as corrupt Nazis who don't know how to open the door except with the heel of their right foot.

[21] On July 23, 1975, Charles Rangel said to Congress: "While we in no way condone the wrongdoing of any agency official, we believe that the dismissal of John Bartels without minimal due process, coupled with the Justice Department's nationwide circulation of a document containing unproved allegations against him, warrants an explanation.