Forget Manning, Snowden and NSA, Reuters Blows Lid Off of Secret DEA Program Aimed at Covering Up Source of Intelligence Used In Investigations of Americans

Reuters News Agency reporters John Schiffman and Kristina Cooke in a series of exclusive articles filed last week uncovered a secret program run by the Special Operations Division (SOD) of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) which had as its purpose the reverse engineering of probable cause trails in criminal and drug forfeiture cases to conceal the real origin of the intelligence information which initiated the investigation.

Through a process the government agents euphemistically referred to as "parallel construction", past and present members of the DEA admitted to retroactively creating parallel probable cause trails through the use of such things as pretextual stops of motor vehicles known to be transporting controlled substances.  After effectuating a stop of the vehicle by traffic units, drug sniffing dogs were then called to the scene who would alert on the vehicle thereby justifying a search.  While it may be somewhat common in drug cases to do these type things to confuse and mislead a defendant so that the defendant would think the investigation originated out of what appeared to be routine traffic stop and thereby protect confidential sources, where the program became an absolutely illegal conspiracy was when the DEA coached its and other government agencies' agents from agencies such as  the IRS, to continue the deception in official court filings or discovery submitted to defense counsel, prosecutors and judges.  These illegal actions had the effect of depriving American citizens of their constitutional rights including due process and right to a fair trial.

Perhaps most chilling of all was the fact that approximately half a dozen past and present members of  law enforcement and the DEA thought these actions were legal.  We have a real crisis here folks when members of the executive branch, those charged with defending the constitution and enforcing the law, cannot recognize something so blatantly unconstitutional and illegal.  My fellow citizens, forget Manning, Snowden and the NSA, and pay attention to these stories and write your elected officials.  This illegal conduct must not be ignored, overlooked or lost in the noise of the 12 hour news cycle.  The time is now America.  Stand up for your rights before out of control government agents euphemize them away.

Please take the time to read the following articles from Reuters destined to win their authors the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism:


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

 How DEA program differs from recent NSA revelations

 U.S. defense lawyers to seek access to DEA hidden intelligence evidence