Grassley on the Drug Enforcement Administration's Use of Confidential Informants, Including Payments to Amtrak Employee

Press Release

Nearly a year ago, in August 2014, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa asked the Drug Enforcement Administration why it paid an Amtrak secretary $854,460 over 19 years for train passenger information it could have received for free, according to an inspector general report. Grassley was and is concerned that the DEA might have paid for the information instead of working cooperatively with a drug enforcement task force to get the material at no cost. The same month, the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General confirmed it "has been conducting an investigation of alleged payments for information by Drug Enforcement Administration personnel to an Amtrak employee." Today, the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General issued an audit report entitled "Audit of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Confidential Source Policies and Oversight of Higher-Risk Confidential Sources." The report does not specifically address the Amtrak informant payments. Instead, it raises serious issues about the DEA's failure to oversee its agents' use of confidential sources. Grassley, Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, made the following comment.

"The latest report confirms concerns raised by the Amtrak incident. The DEA needs to do a better job of managing the handling of confidential informants. When the agency overpays and fails to manage long-term informant relationships properly, that's both detrimental to taxpayers and can impede the agency's ability to use informants effectively to help enforce the law. It's good news that the DEA agrees with the inspector general's recommendations. The agency needs to implement the recommendations. On the Amtrak incident, since it's been nearly a year since the inspector general confirmed an investigation, the results of the investigation seem overdue. The inspector general should advise on where the investigation stands and release any results for the sake of accountability."

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