July 20, 1998

CLEAN UP THE DEA

FEDERAL drug agents are diverting money from the nation’s war on drugs to pay for personal high-priced toys - and who knows what else. According to an outside audit, bookkeepers at the Drug Enforcement Agency can’t track the whereabouts of millions of stolen funds, seized drugs, or sting money.

Peat Marwick, a top private accounting firm, examined the agency’s 1997 books and concluded that the office: had no system for keeping track of property and equipment; could not document more than $5 million in purchases, and had no reliable records for its inventory of seized drugs.
(Ed. note: $5 million is nothing compared with what could be stolen by diverting a small portion of the seized drugs and cash. The poor CIA has to go to the trouble and expense of smuggling contraband into the country. DEA agents can just divert a little when it gets here. Much better mark-up. Remember, the heroin in the "French Connection" case disappeared from the New City Police Department. This is hardly a new problem.)

Two criminal cases brought separately against DEA workers show how this lack of record-keeping encourages a culture of abuse.

The first case involved a recently retired budget analyst indicted on 74 counts and charged with stealing $6 million over seven years. The employee is accused of spending drug-war funds to purchase and remodel several homes, subsidize family vacations in Europe, and buy jewelry, collector’s coins, art and luxury cars.

A second case involved a telecommunications specialist for the DEA who pleaded guilty to submitting purchase orders for stereos, computers, VCRs and a 50-inch television set.

The Justice Department has pledged to fix the DEA’s "antiquated financial system." But this isn’t a complicated software problem or math puzzle. Endowed with a politically protected mission to wage the drug war at all costs, the DEA has flouted the public trust.