Mathea Falco

Mathea Falco
Photo by Webb Chappell
1st Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
In office 1979–1981
President	Jimmy Carter

Mathea Falco (born October 15, 1944) is a leading expert in drug abuse prevention and treatment who served as the first U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs during the Carter Administration. Currently, Falco is the President of Drug Strategies, a nonprofit research institute based in Washington, D.C., which she created with the support of major foundations in 1993 to identify and promote more effective approaches to substance abuse and international drug policy.

Falco received her B.A. from Radcliffe College in 1965 and her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1968. In 1971, Falco became the first woman to serve as Chief Counsel and Staff Director of a major U.S. Senate subcommittee (United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency) which had jurisdiction over the Federal laws governing juvenile delinquency, controlled substances, pornography and gun control. In 1977, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance appointed Falco Senior Adviser to the Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter nominated Falco to the newly created position of Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters (currently known as the Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs) a post she held until January 21, 1981. During her four years at the State Department, Falco also led the U.S. delegation to the annual meetings of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

After leaving government in 1981, Falco continued her work in drug policy, serving as a consultant to the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation's U.S.-Mexico Commission, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, and other non-profit organizations. Having served as a member of the Board of Trustees for Radcliffe College for over a decade from 1967 to 1979, Falco was later elected to the Harvard Board of Overseers for a six-year term starting in 1985. Between 1989 and 1992, she served as Chair of the Visiting Committee on Harvard University Health Services. From 1993-1994, Falco was a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.