John 'Jack' Lawn was the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration from 1985 till 1990. Before swearing in, he served as the Acting Administrator following Francis Mullen's resignation.
After the Guadalajara cartel kidnapped and tortured DEA agent Enrique Camarena Salazar, he authorized Operation Leyenda to bring the drug traffickers and their political connections to justice. However, after an ill-fated attack on a cartel airfield in 1988, he had John Bell quietly pull back the operation.