The Justice Department will allegedly investigate a report that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is covering up facilitated spying tactics on Americans, White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters Monday.
Reuters reported Monday that the DEA routinely covers up the practice of spying on Americans to generate drug crime leads.
“It’s my understanding… that the Department of Justice is looking at some of the issues raised in the article,” Carney said during his daily briefing at the White House on Monday.
According to reports, the DEA has been covering up spying on Americans for decades to generate drug crime leads that result in arrests and convictions.
According to attorneys, the DEA funnels tips from domestic spying programs to local law enforcement, who then fake the beginning of an investigation in order to arrest and convict suspected drug traffickers. For example, the DEA will tell local police to pull over a specific truck at a specific location, then local police will say they “randomly” stopped the vehicle. This type of behavior is not acceptable at the local level. Why is it OK for the DEA?
Covering up evidence used to investigate and convict an American is unconstitutional because defendants cannot challenge the secret evidence, lawyers state.
Ezekiel Edwards, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Criminal Law Reform Project, Said, “The [DEA] procedures violate the fundamental right to a fair trial. When someone is accused of a crime, the Constitution guarantees the right to examine the government’s evidence, including its sources, and confront the witnesses against them.” He went on to say, “Our due process rights are at risk when our federal government hides and distorts the sources of evidence used as the basis for arrests and prosecutions.”
The DEA’s actions could jeopardize thousands of drug convictions. What does this mean? It means that if it is found that the DEA’s actions did, in fact, violate the rights of anyone that has been convicted by use of deceptive tactics, then prisoners could potentially be released due to the fact that the evidence would be tainted and no longer admissible.
Anti-prohibition advocacy group Drug Policy Alliance joined others in condemning the DEA’s attack on civil liberties Monday.
For years it has been said that the DEA qualifies as a rogue agency – one that was appointed by President Richard Nixon in 1978 and has been scrutinized ever since. Congress needs to immediately investigate, the allegations that have surfaced are most likely just the tip of the iceberg stated Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. The DEA has been mired in a series of scandals lately:
– The DEA agreed to pay $4.1 million to an innocent California college student left for dead for 5 days in a cell without food or water.
– Human rights group have blasted a DEA-assisted drug war mission in Honduras killed four Hondurans.
– In 2011, as part of Fast and Furious scandal, the DEA helped launder or smuggle millions of dollars in drug profits for Mexican drug cartels.
-Illegal drug raids on CVS Pharmacies, violating HIPPA laws be seizing patient records without notice to patients.
“It’s remarkable how little scrutiny the DEA faces from Congress or other federal overseers,” stated Nadelmann. “With an annual budget of over $2 billion as well as significant discretionary powers, DEA certainly merits a top-to-bottom review of its operations, expenditures, and discretionary actions.”
The DEA has admitted that is does, in fact, use illegal tactics that clearly violate Americans constitutional rights. In fact, the DEA claims it is golden for their agency and is a huge key in convicting drug crimes. The DEA has been breaking laws for decades and they have gone untouched. The DEA is like legalized organized crime, modern day lynch men that are supported by Congress. No different than the CIA.
Many Americans are not hopeful that a thorough investigation will be done. Many feel that Eric Holder will hold up or cripple the investigation completely. Just as he did when charges were filed against the Black Panthers for trying to intimidate voters into voting for Obama.
In a world where the government is supposed to protect American rights, it seems that it is the government that is the biggest offender in violating American rights. These are not conspiracy theories, these are the facts and many feel the DEA should be dismantled said, Nadelmann.
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