U.S. directs agents to cover up program used to investigate Americans

[Damen]

Yeah, it's like that.

http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-u-directs-agents-cover-program-used-investigate-091643729.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A secretive U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unit is funneling information from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across the nation to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans.

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.

"I have never heard of anything like this at all," said Nancy Gertner, a Harvard Law School professor who served as a federal judge from 1994 to 2011. Gertner and other legal experts said the program sounds more troubling than recent disclosures that the National Security Agency has been collecting domestic phone records. The NSA effort is geared toward stopping terrorists; the DEA program targets common criminals, primarily drug dealers.

"It is one thing to create special rules for national security," Gertner said. "Ordinary crime is entirely different. It sounds like they are phonying up investigations."

THE SPECIAL OPERATIONS DIVISION

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.

Today, much of the SOD's work is classified, and officials asked that its precise location in Virginia not be revealed. The documents reviewed by Reuters are marked "Law Enforcement Sensitive," a government categorization that is meant to keep them confidential.

"Remember that the utilization of SOD cannot be revealed or discussed in any investigative function," a document presented to agents reads. The document specifically directs agents to omit the SOD's involvement from investigative reports, affidavits, discussions with prosecutors and courtroom testimony. Agents are instructed to then use "normal investigative techniques to recreate the information provided by SOD."

A spokesman with the Department of Justice, which oversees the DEA, declined to comment.

But two senior DEA officials defended the program, and said trying to "recreate" an investigative trail is not only legal but a technique that is used almost daily.

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.

"PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION"

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.

Seems the United States has it's own version of the KGB now.

[agentCDE]

It's an oath to "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" for a reason. The fucking police are the last people who should be breaking the law like this.

[Her3tiK]

At least it only affects minorities drug users, right guys? Right?

Show of hands if this surprises anyone after the NSA scandal came up.

[Lt. Fred]

I don't know that I disagree with this.

[Auri-El]

Why doesn't that surprise me?

[QueenofHearts]

Why doesn't that surprise me?

Cause we've all seen this coming for the longest time >.>

[Lt. Fred]

Surely that makes sense, though? You've got a confidential source, like a wire or a snitch - you don't want to expose, so you create a reasonable second source of information. Sure, that maybe makes the trial slightly less fair, but lots of things do that. Obviously, if the US system prohibits this then don't do it right now. But should US law do so? This seems like something reasonable people might disagree on.

[QueenofHearts]

Surely that makes sense, though? You've got a confidential source, like a wire or a snitch - you don't want to expose, so you create a reasonable second source of information. Sure, that maybe makes the trial slightly less fair, but lots of things do that. Obviously, if the US system prohibits this then don't do it right now. But should US law do so? This seems like something reasonable people might disagree on.

The thing is, this isn't coming from covering up a snitch. That's a legitimate source of a tip and is one thing. This is coming about because the NSA is giving this information to the DEA so that local police & DEA can make specialized searches on individuals that they otherwise wouldn't.

I guess what I mean to say is that covering up a legitimate source for safety is one thing and acceptable, covering up an illegitimate source by making it "look" legitimate isn't. Just the NSA program was said to be for national security and now it's being used to violate privacy so we can bust kids smoking pot...

[MadCatTLX]

Why doesn't that surprise me?

Cause we've all seen this coming for the longest time >.>

I think he was talking about Fred's opinion on the matter, not the thread in general.

[ThunderWulf]

Surely that makes sense, though? You've got a confidential source, like a wire or a snitch - you don't want to expose, so you create a reasonable second source of information. Sure, that maybe makes the trial slightly less fair, but lots of things do that. Obviously, if the US system prohibits this then don't do it right now. But should US law do so? This seems like something reasonable people might disagree on.

The thing is, this isn't coming from covering up a snitch. That's a legitimate source of a tip and is one thing. This is coming about because the NSA is giving this information to the DEA so that local police & DEA can make specialized searches on individuals that they otherwise wouldn't.

I guess what I mean to say is that covering up a legitimate source for safety is one thing and acceptable, covering up an illegitimate source by making it "look" legitimate isn't. Just the NSA program was said to be for national security and now it's being used to violate privacy so we can bust kids smoking pot...

Fucking THIS.

[Lt. Fred]

Surely that makes sense, though? You've got a confidential source, like a wire or a snitch - you don't want to expose, so you create a reasonable second source of information. Sure, that maybe makes the trial slightly less fair, but lots of things do that. Obviously, if the US system prohibits this then don't do it right now. But should US law do so? This seems like something reasonable people might disagree on.

The thing is, this isn't coming from covering up a snitch. That's a legitimate source of a tip and is one thing. This is coming about because the NSA is giving this information to the DEA so that local police & DEA can make specialized searches on individuals that they otherwise wouldn't.

I guess what I mean to say is that covering up a legitimate source for safety is one thing and acceptable, covering up an illegitimate source by making it "look" legitimate isn't. Just the NSA program was said to be for national security and now it's being used to violate privacy so we can bust kids smoking pot...

Yeah, that seems a more reasonable basis. The NSA shouldn't be involved in domestic crime- obviously. They're a freaking espionage agency.

[RavynousHunter]

Thus, the War on Drugs has reached an appalling new low.

[Damen]

I just saw Obama on TV saying how their spying programs were only going after "terrorists" and they weren't listening in to private conversations. And my reaction was "bullshit."

He went on to relation a story about how sometimes when he would tell his wife he did the dishes, she'd be skeptical and while he'd like her to believe him, sometimes he still had to show her the dishes.

And as for the spying programs? Now we know damn good and well that they are going through the contents of our private communications. And it isn't just the DEA that is getting a peek at what we're saying.

Everyone else from the FBI to the fucking IRS is wanting access to these spy programs to launch their criminal investigations. They're violating the 4th Amendment, 5th Amendment and 6th Amendment. They're spring on us and, yes, reading our e-mails and listening to our phone calls. They're using that ill-gotten info to launch criminal investigations, not to supplement them, and then they're hiding the origins of their investigations from the courts and thereby disallowing the accused the right to face their accuser.

Obama, if you're going to tell me that you're only going after "terrorists" when we now know otherwise and expect me to believe you then I have one thing to say; show us the fucking dishes.

[big_electron]

The NSA "investigations" are supposed to prevent things like terrorism, yet we had school shootings and marathon bombings.  The NSA then says they need more power.

No!  The NSA needs to stop wasting time on eavesdropping, and spend that time actually thwarting school shootings and marathon bombings.

[chitoryu12]

The NSA "investigations" are supposed to prevent things like terrorism, yet we had school shootings and marathon bombings.  The NSA then says they need more power.

No!  The NSA needs to stop wasting time on eavesdropping, and spend that time actually thwarting school shootings and marathon bombings.

School shootings aren't exactly the NSA's jurisdiction. If you want to stop school shootings, stop making school shooters.