Drug Enforcement Administration: Difference between revisions

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 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>