INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING SPECIALISTS

WITA's International Wildlife Trafficking Specialists have many years fighting organized transnational wildlife crime.

Ed Newcomer is a well-respected law enforcement professional and lawyer who served as a Special Agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for over 20 years before retiring in 2022. During his career as a Special Agent, Ed worked in Los Angeles and in a variety of international posts while conducting complex investigations involving wildlife trafficking crimes. Between 2015 and 2020, Ed was based at the United States Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa where he served as the Wildlife Law Enforcement Attaché for Southern Africa.  As the senior diplomatic representative of the US Fish and Wildlife Service in nine African countries, he provided investigative and enforcement assistance to African law enforcement agencies and advice to senior US Government officials at US embassies throughout the world. He was responsible for the conception and implementation of the US Visa Ineligibility for Wildlife and Timber Traffickers, the first and only such visa restriction adopted anywhere in the world. Prior to his Africa assignment, Ed served as the Deputy Resident Agent in Charge for the Southern California RAC District in Los Angeles, California, where he supervised criminal investigations conducted by Service agents in the Los Angeles area.  During his career, he conducted many high-profile international wildlife trafficking investigations involving every continent, including Antarctica. He is a licensed attorney and, for ten years prior to joining the Service, practiced law as an Assistant Attorney General and Hearing Officer in the states of Washington and Colorado. In addition to his work with WITA, Ed is a member of the faculty at California State University, Dominguez Hills, where he teaches courses in criminal justice and administrative law.