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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsU.S. to review DEA unit that hides use of intel in crime cases
By John Shiffman and David Ingram
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department is reviewing a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unit that passes tips culled from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a large telephone database to field agents, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday.
Reuters reported Monday that agents who use such tips are trained to "recreate" the investigative trail to effectively conceal the DEA unit's involvement from defense lawyers, prosecutors and even judges, a policy many lawyers said could violate a defendant's right to a fair trial. Federal drug agents call the process of changing the true genesis of an arrest "parallel construction," according to a training document.
Although the DEA program may use legal means to collect and distribute the tips, critics say that by hiding the origin of a case, defendants may not know about potentially exculpatory evidence.
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In an interview with Reuters last month, two senior DEA officials defended the program, saying it has been in place since the late 1990s, has been reviewed by every Attorney General since then, and is perfectly legal. One DEA official said "parallel construction" is used every day by agents and police nationwide and is "a bedrock concept."
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/05/us-dea-sod-reaction-idUSBRE97412S20130805
Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)Do you think we would be having this discussion, or the Justice Department would be reviewing the program to see if systemic lies were acceptable if not for the exposure of the secrets by people like Snowden and Manning and whoever let this cat out of the bag?
Bedrock concept, the ability to lie about how the investigation got started, and it's been used for two decades, and nobody in any Justice Department thought it was a problem?
ProSense
(116,464 posts)http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023408152
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)I wish the IRS would let me audit myself and report the results back to them.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)Just because a program is 10 years old does not mean it cannot be abused at some point.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)program should get some scrutiny.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"What a coincidence, right after the story runs in the press, they figure hey maybe this NSA-liaison"
...the way the origninal story was presented gave the impression that it was tied to the NSA and secret, but it is neither. It's a separate program that has been in existence for two decades.
I guess now is as good a time to expose it.
About the Reuters DEA Special Operations Division Story
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023408152
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)DoJ says holy crap this is maybe a problem after all.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Mojorabbit
(16,020 posts)Does that make it ok? Why downplay it?