Reuters: How DEA program differs from recent NSA revelations

[ProSense]

How DEA program differs from recent NSA revelations

By John Shiffman

WASHINGTON | Mon Aug 5, 2013 5:16am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former spy-agency contractor Edward Snowden has caused a fierce debate over civil liberties and national-security needs by disclosing details of secret U.S. government surveillance programs.

Reuters has uncovered previously unreported details about a separate program, run by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, that extends well beyond intelligence gathering. Its use, legal experts say, raises fundamental questions about whether the government is concealing information used to investigate and help build criminal cases against American citizens.

The DEA program is run by a secretive unit called the Special Operations Division, or SOD. Here is how NSA efforts exposed by Snowden differ from the activities of the SOD:

Purpose of the programs

NSA: To use electronic surveillance to help the Federal Bureau of Investigation catch terrorists, the U.S. military fight wars, and the Central Intelligence Agency collect intelligence about foreign governments.

SOD: To help the DEA and other law enforcement agents launch criminal investigations of drug dealers, money launderers and other common criminals, including Americans. The unit also handles global narco-terrorism cases.

- more -

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/05/us-dea-sod-nsa-idUSBRE9740AI20130805

From the original Reuters article:

<...>

Although these cases rarely involve national security issues, documents reviewed by Reuters show that law enforcement agents have been directed to conceal how such investigations truly begin - not only from defense lawyers but also sometimes from prosecutors and judges.

<...>

The unit of the DEA that distributes the information is called the Special Operations Division, or SOD. Two dozen partner agencies comprise the unit, including the FBI, CIA, NSA, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security. It was created in 1994 to combat Latin American drug cartels and has grown from several dozen employees to several hundred.

<...>

The unit also played a major role in a 2008 DEA sting in Thailand against Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout; he was sentenced in 2011 to 25 years in prison on charges of conspiring to sell weapons to the Colombian rebel group FARC. The SOD also recently coordinated Project Synergy, a crackdown against manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers of synthetic designer drugs that spanned 35 states and resulted in 227 arrests.

<...>

Wiretap tips forwarded by the SOD usually come from foreign governments, U.S. intelligence agencies or court-authorized domestic phone recordings. Because warrantless eavesdropping on Americans is illegal, tips from intelligence agencies are generally not forwarded to the SOD until a caller's citizenship can be verified...Since its inception, the SOD's mandate has expanded to include narco-terrorism, organized crime and gangs. A DEA spokesman declined to comment on the unit's annual budget. A recent LinkedIn posting on the personal page of a senior SOD official estimated it to be $125 million.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/05/us-dea-sod-idUSBRE97409R20130805

[Warpy]

1. Funny, they don't seem to be able to make a case

against any of the megabanks for laundering all that drug money for gangs worldwide.

Obviously, it's just more bullshit to keep us afraid and under control.

[ProSense]

4. Seems fear sells these days. n/t

[Mojorabbit]

2. Here is a link that may interest you

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3407537
The NSA is giving your phone records to the DEA. And the DEA is covering it up.
By Brian Fung, Published: August 5 at 10:06 am

A day after we learned of a draining turf battle between the NSA and other law enforcement agencies over bulk surveillance data, it now appears that those same agencies are working together to cover up when that data gets shared.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has been the recipient of multiple tips from the NSA. DEA officials in a highly secret office called the Special Operations Division are assigned to handle these incoming tips, according to Reuters. The information shared includes “intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records,” and it’s problematic because it appears to break down the barrier between foreign counter-terrorism investigations and ordinary domestic criminal investigations.

[ProSense]

3. Actually,

I saw it:

The report makes no explicit connection between the DEA and the earlier NSA bulk phone surveillance uncovered by former Booz Allen Hamilton contractor Edward Snowden. In other words, we don’t know for sure if the DEA’s Special Operations Division is getting its tips from the same database that’s been the subject of multiple congressional hearings in recent months. We just know that the NSA sometimes grants DEA access to Section 702 phone records, and also, separately, that a special outfit within DEA sometimes gets tips from the NSA.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023406605#post51

[Mojorabbit]

5. I saw your post in the other thread

They ARE sharing information. "A special outfit withing the DEA sometimes gets tips from the NSA. We KNOW that NSA sometimes grants DEA acdess to Section 702 phone records" But just as with the NSA spying we don't know what else they are doing.
I don't see the point of your thread. We know they are two different alphabet agencies We are finding out that they are sharing some info. It is pretty dangerous what can be done esp if some deliberate or not erroneous info from the NSA is passed to the DEA and they use it to bust someone and then backtrack to make the case. Would be really easy to destroy someone with no one the wiser.