Police officer becomes special agent to "help defend our nation" after Sept. 11 terror attacks

Looking back on the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, reminds Miles Aley of the fight still flaring in front of him as the Drug Enforcement Administration Miami's special agent in charge.

"From that night on, I was looking for ways to do more," he said.

Twenty-five years ago, then-police officer Aley patrolled Auburn, Alabama. He worked 12-hour night shifts and felt content serving that city until Sept. 11, 2001.

Aley woke up to reports of the terror attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.

"Even outside law enforcement, I think it was a pretty uniform reaction for Americans to take that attack very personally and want to do something to help other people, help to defend our nation," Aley said.  "I immediately wanted to be involved."

He applied to join several federal agencies and eventually landed at the DEA. 

"Their urgency (was) to do more than to just arrest drug traffickers, to identify the people who are using the drug trafficking funding streams to fund terrorism around the world, to find those organizations that are targeting Americans not just for financial gain but to destroy the fabric of our society," Aley said.  "Those investigations have become much more important."

His veteran DEA colleagues at the time saw the Pentagon burn, Aley said.  They also watched eight months of cleanup in New York and investigators finding evidence of terrorists training in South Florida.

The terror attacks nudged the DEA into the intelligence community, Aley said.

The administration now shares information and sources around the world with all parts of the U.S. government, Aley said.

It is part of the intelligence fueling military attacks on drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Oceans. In South Florida, Aley pushes DEA Miami agents to partner with others too.

"I see everyone who carries a badge or a gun as my brother or sister," Aley said.  "We're on the same team protecting Americans.  That's the message I pass on to the people I supervise and that's the culture I try to foster."

It is a mission rooted in memories that are 25 years old.