Drug Enforcement Administration: Difference between revisions

| headquarters      = [[Arlington County, Virginia]], U.S.<ref name=SernovitzDaniel>{{cite web|last=Sernovitz|first=Daniel J.|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2018/09/12/dea-recommits-to-pentagon-city.html|title=DEA commits to Pentagon City for another 15 years|newspaper=[[Washington Business Journal]]|date=2018-09-12|accessdate=2023-06-24}}</ref><!--Springfield is just a mailing address: {{cite web|url=https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-II/part-1321/section-1321.01|title=§ 1321.01 DEA mailing addresses.|publisher=[[ECFR]]|accessdate=2023-06-24|quote=Drug Enforcement Administration, Attn: Administrator, 8701 Morrissette Drive, Springfield, VA 22152. }}-->

The DEA is headed by an [[Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration]] appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]]. The Administrator reports to the [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] through the [[United States Deputy Attorney General|Deputy Attorney General]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/08aug20051500/edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2005/julqtr/pdf/28cfr0.102.pdf |publisher=Department of Justice |title=Title 28, C.F.R., Part 0.102 |page=57 |access-date=April 28, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810114233/http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/08aug20051500/edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2005/julqtr/pdf/28cfr0.102.pdf |archive-date=August 10, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The administrator is assisted by a deputy administrator, the chief of operations, the chief inspector, and three assistant administrators (for the Operations Support, Intelligence, and Human Resources divisions). Other senior staff includes the chief financial officer and the chief counsel. The administrator and deputy administrator are the only presidentially appointed personnel in the DEA; all other DEA officials are career government employees. DEA's headquarters is located in [[Arlington County, Virginia]], across from [[The Pentagon]]. It maintains its own DEA Academy located on the [[Marine Corps Base Quantico]] at [[Quantico, Virginia]], alongside the [[FBI Academy]]. {{As of|2024}}, it maintains 241 domestic offices in 23 divisions, and 93 foreign offices in 69 countries.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Divisions |url=https://www.dea.gov/divisions |access-date=Feb 21, 2024 |website=[[Drug Enforcement Administration]]}}</ref> With a budget exceeding $3 billion, DEA employs 10,169 people, including 4,924 Special Agents and 800 Intelligence Analysts.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}{{Update inline|date=May 2024}}

{{Circa|2015}} its headquarters and the [[DEA Museum]] were in {{convert|503776|sqft|sqm}} in Lincoln Place, a rented office building in [[Pentagon City]] in [[Arlington County, Virginia]]. In September 2018 this lease was scheduled to end. The [[General Services Administration]] (GSA), circa 2015, was checking to see where in Northern Virginia the DEA could be headquartered.<ref>{{cite web|last=Sernovitz|first=Daniel J.|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2015/12/another-federal-agency-could-take-flight.html|title=GSA seeking new headquarters for the DEA in Northern Virginia|newspaper=[[Washington Business Journal ]]|date=2015-12-22|accessdate=2023-06-24}}</ref> In 2018 the government of the United States extended the lease at Lincoln Place, now to expire circa <!--2018 + 15 = 2033-->2033.<ref name=SernovitzDaniel/> The DEA administration favored retaining the original location.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2018/08/24/judge-issues-judgment-on-dea-headquarters.html|last=Sernovitz|first=Daniel J.|title=The DEA wants to stay in Pentagon City. Now, a federal judge has weighed in.|newspaper=[[Washington Business Journal ]]|date=2018-08-24|accessdate=2023-06-24}}</ref>

The DEA '''Special Operations Division''' ('''SOD''') is a division within the DEA, which forwards information from wiretaps, intercepts, and databases from various sources to federal agents and local law enforcement officials. The SOD came under scrutiny following the [[2010s global surveillance disclosures]].<ref>{{cite news|title=How DEA program differs from recent NSA revelations|author=John Shiffman|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-dea-sod-nsa-idUSBRE9740AI20130805|work=[[Reuters]]|date=August 5, 2013|access-date=August 5, 2013|archive-date=March 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312164440/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-dea-sod-nsa-idUSBRE9740AI20130805|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2005, the DEA estimated that it had over 4,000 informants without which they "could not effectively enforce the controlled substances laws of the United States."<ref name="usatoday.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2012/10/07/informants-justice-crime/1600323/|title=Crimes by ATF and DEA informants not tracked by feds|website=[[USA Today]] |date=October 7, 2012}}</ref> To gather information, agents permitted their informants to  buy and sell drugs, engage in Medicaid fraud rings, and other illicit acts.<ref name="usatoday.com"/> Despite this, the DEA claims that they are "in compliance" with the rules for using informants to gather information about illicit activities.<ref name="usatoday.com"/>

In 2013, ''[[Reuters]]'' published a report about the DEA's Special Operations Division (SOD) stating that it conceals where an investigative trail about a suspect truly originates from and [[Parallel construction|creates a parallel set of evidence]] given to prosecutors, judges, and defense lawyers. This DEA program mainly affects common criminals such as drug dealers. The concealment of evidence means the defendant is unaware of how his or her investigation began and will be unable to request a review of possible sources of exculpatory evidence. Exculpatory evidence may include biased witnesses, mistakes, or entrapment. Nancy Gertner, a former federal judge who had served from 1994 to 2011 and a [[Harvard Law School]] professor, stated that "It is one thing to create special rules for national security. Ordinary crime is entirely different. It sounds like they are phonying up investigations."<ref>{{cite news|first1=John|last1=Shiffman|first2=Kristina|last2=Cooke|title=Exclusive: U.S. directs agents to cover up program used to investigate Americans|date=Aug 5, 2013|work=[[Reuters]]|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-dea-sod-idUSBRE97409R20130805|access-date=Jun 2, 2016|archive-date=August 14, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130814032628/http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/05/us-dea-sod-idUSBRE97409R20130805|url-status=live}}</ref> Andrew O'Hehir of ''[[Salon (magazine)|Salon]]'' wrote that "It’s the first clear evidence that the “special rules” and disregard for constitutional law that have characterized the hunt for so-called terrorists have crept into the domestic criminal justice system on a significant scale."<ref>{{cite news|last=O'Hehir|first=Andrew|title=The NSA-DEA police state tango|date=August 10, 2013|work=[[Salon (magazine)|Salon]]|url=http://www.salon.com/2013/08/10/the_nsa_dea_police_state_tango/|access-date=June 2, 2016|archive-date=June 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160622005724/http://www.salon.com/2013/08/10/the_nsa_dea_police_state_tango/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1999, the DEA opened the Drug Enforcement Administration Museum in [[Arlington County, Virginia]]. The original permanent exhibit – Illegal Drugs in America: A Modern History – remains the museum's centerpiece.  The exhibit features "the more than 150 year history of drugs and drug abuse and the DEA," including a considerable collection of drug paraphernalia and an image of a smiling drug vendor under the heading "Jimmy's Joint".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deamuseum.org/ida/index.html|title=Illegal Drugs in America, a Modern History|publisher=DEA Museum Website|access-date=February 27, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111024173130/http://www.deamuseum.org/ida/index.html|archive-date=October 24, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref>