Reuters reports that it has reviewed documents revealing the existence of a DEA Special Operations Division (SOD) that partners with the FBI, CIA, NSA, IRS and Homeland Security to share information. The documents show that agents are trained to "recreate" the investigative trail to cover up where the information originated—a nod to the supposed firewall between national security and law enforcement investigations. The SOD, launched in 1994 to combat Latin American cartels, has grown from several dozen employees to several hundred. (Reuters, Aug. 5)
Graphic by DEA
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DEA database dwarfs NSA's?
The New York Times on Sept. 1 reports on the "Hemisphere Project," a partnership between the DEA and AT&T that granted the agency to years of private records—all the way back to 1987.
The program was revealed in a PowerPoint document procured by Drew Hendricks, a peace activist in Port Hadlock, Wash., in response to a series of public information requests to West Coast police agencies. The document is unclassified but marked "Law enforcement sensitive."