DEA Program "More Troubling" Than NSA 432
Rambo Tribble writes "Reuters is reporting on a secret effort by the Drug Enforcement Agency to collect data from wiretaps, informants, and other sources. Considered most troubling is a systematic campaign to hide this program from the courts, denying defendants their right to know how evidence against them was obtained. This agenda targets U.S. citizens directly, as it is mainly focused on drug trafficking. From the article: 'Although these cases rarely involve national security issues, documents reviewed by Reuters show that law enforcement agents have been directed to conceal how such investigations truly begin - not only from defense lawyers but also sometimes from prosecutors and judges. The undated documents show that federal agents are trained to "recreate" the investigative trail to effectively cover up where the information originated, a practice that some experts say violates a defendant's Constitutional right to a fair trial. If defendants don't know how an investigation began, they cannot know to ask to review potential sources of exculpatory evidence - information that could reveal entrapment, mistakes or biased witnesses.'"
Troubling quote from the article (Score:5, Informative)
A former federal agent in the northeastern United States who received such tips from SOD described the process. "You'd be told only, ‘Be at a certain truck stop at a certain time and look for a certain vehicle.' And so we'd alert the state police to find an excuse to stop that vehicle, and then have a drug dog search it," the agent said. After an arrest was made, agents then pretended that their investigation began with the traffic stop, not with the SOD tip, the former agent said. The training document reviewed by Reuters refers to this process as "parallel construction."
Country without a consitution says what?
Re:Hiding how it started? (Score:4, Informative)
The unit of the DEA that distributes the information is called the Special Operations Division, or SOD. Two dozen partner agencies comprise the unit, including the FBI, CIA, NSA, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security. It was created in 1994 to combat Latin American drug cartels and has grown from several dozen employees to several hundred.
Had I read for just a minute longer, I'd have found this. So it would seem I was correct.
Re:Another word game (Score:3, Informative)
This "recreating the investigative trail" sounds like a fancy way to describe perjury.
The term is 'testilying', citizen.
Re:Troubling quote from the article (Score:5, Informative)
The 'war on drugs' has either introduced or popularized many of the more...unpleasant...police practices, so it isn't 100% surprising that people who litigate drug cases, one side or the other, probably have a lot of unpleasant cocktail party stories.
Re:Idiots (Score:5, Informative)
They're not idiots. Lots of very powerful and well connected people profit from drug prohibition. They don't want the bottom to fall out of the market, and they don't want drug-funded gangs to go away. What they are doing is intentional.
Re:Idiots (Score:5, Informative)
Do you think anyone who has ever used drugs needs rehab?
Even people who only indulge a few times a year?
Most drug consumption is not your hard core addict, but normal people have a joint after work, or a couple lines at the club on their birthday. These people don't need help or rehab, they are functioning members of society and prosecuting them hurts us all. Taxing them on the other hand would help pay for the treatments of the hard luck cases.
Thefts by drug users are due to their inability to get work(thanks drug testing!) and the high price of drugs. Look at what Switzerland did with heroin to see that your theory is likely wrong.
Re:News? (Score:5, Informative)
But we now know that the DEA probably gets its info from the NSA, and hands it down further to your local sheriff.
Not probably; definitely. From TFA:
The unit of the DEA that distributes the information is called the Special Operations Division, or SOD. Two dozen partner agencies comprise the unit, including the FBI, CIA, NSA, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security.