comment: >
  
  DEA is also dwarfed by DHS/Customs, which has 240 aircraft, putting it between the Cuban and Saudi Arabian air forces for the most air assets, at number 21 overall. A lot of their stuff is dod hand-me-downs like awacs, p3s, predator drones, whereas DEA seems to mostly be Cessnas and the like.
context: “[SECAF Kendall] basically made clear that DoD business is not, in essence, domestic drug issues even though DoD is one of the primary people responsible,” Kinzinger said about the meeting. 
  
  The DoD being one of the "primary people responsible" for counter-narcotic operations is a self-perpetuating mission requirement. The DoD is responsible for military operations, not law enforcement and counternarcotics. Counternarcotic and border control support was an opportunistic mission - a way to make better use of sorties that would've otherwise just been empty training flights. The RC-26's original, tactical mission has been supplanted by objectively better platforms, both manned and unmanned - and the "side bonus" of counternarcotics can't itself justify the airframe's continued use.
  It's like planning a road trip to some big destination and planning to stop for coffee along the way - then deciding not to go to the destination, but still driving out to the "on the way" coffee place hundreds of miles away. >
  
  The headline isn't very clear. Congress decided to eliminate the plane, not the Air Force. Without funding, the Air Force can't keep flying the plane.
  All this article says is that the Air Force decided to speed up the inevitable termination of the plane and its mission, and use drones instead. >
  
  Shouldn’t this really be the concern and the responsibility of the DEA? >
  
  There's multiple departments this could fall into.
  DEA shares concurrent jurisdiction with the FBI, ICE and CBP (both of which are under the DOJ and DHS).  Getting the USAF involves just includes another high level department (DOD).
  The DEA has its own aviation division.  It has approximately 135 Special Agent/Pilots and 100 aircraft.