Corruption

DEA Pays Informants for Intel that’s Available for Free

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) can’t seem to stay out of trouble. On the heels of a prostitution scandal that led to the resignation of its beleaguered director, a new audit reveals that the federal law enforcement agency paid a fellow government employee nearly a million dollars to provide information that was available for free.

The transgression involves the use of a paid Confidential Source (CS) working in the nation’s passenger train system, known as Amtrak. As part of a joint task force that works to interdict passengers trafficking contraband on trains the DEA and the Amtrak Police Department (APD) share information and intelligence in the course of their duties. In this particular case the DEA paid an Amtrak employee an alarming $854,460 for information that was available at no cost to the government, according to the Department of Justice Inspector General. This violates federal regulations relating to the use of government property, the watchdog concludes, thereby wasting substantial government funds. Additionally the investigation found that the DEA also violated federal rules by paying a separate Amtrak employee $9,701 in exchange for information.