Cabinet Taps Keefe as FDLE Chief

By Gray Rohrer, The News Service of Florida

Larry Keefe, who has previously played important roles in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, was appointed Tuesday by the Florida Cabinet as the next executive director for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Keefe will take over for Mark Glass, who is leaving his post next month to become undersheriff for the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, as the Miami Herald first reported last week.

“In every position he had he performed at the highest possible level,” DeSantis said. “Larry will lead the agency with distinction, ensuring the rule of law and public safety will remain a top priority.”

Keefe attended but did not speak before the Cabinet meeting, which was Glass’ last in his current role.

The FDLE is under the oversight of the governor and the Cabinet, which consists of the Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, who all voted in favor of Keefe. DeSantis made the appointment, but it is subject to the vote of the Cabinet.

Uthmeier thanked Glass for his efforts as the head of FDLE. Glass took over as acting executive director in May 2022 and formally took over permanently in August 2022.

“The last few years FDLE’s been handling a lot of new responsibilities, from retail theft to election fraud, assisting our child predator unit – we’ve broken every record in the book on arrests and prosecutions,” Uthmeier said. “Florda’s at a record crime low in large part because of his leadership and help.”

Glass also oversaw Florida’s new collaboration with the federal government in immigration enforcement efforts after a new law as passed in 2025 at DeSantis’ urging to further crackdown on illegal immigration.

As FDLE executive director Glass earned $198,000 per year.

The appointment of Keefe was not originally on the Cabinet’s public agenda. Simpson told reporters he only found out about the appointment on Monday.

Keefe is a former federal prosecutor who was instrumental in DeSantis’ push to remove former state attorney Andrew Warren of Hillsborough County from office for allegedly pledging not to enforce abortion laws. He also organized flights as part of a state operation that took undocumented immigrants from Texas and dropped them in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.

In those episodes he served as Florida’s public safety czar, and later he held the position of executive director of the State Board of Immigration Enforcement, but left that job in October 2025.

Keefe will take over at FDLE three months before the end of DeSantis’ second term.