DEA Teams up with NSA in Alleged Secret Collaboration to Prosecute You, Illegally By Admin on August 8, 2013 by Andrea Dantzer Just a few days ago Reuters broke the story that the Drug Enforcement Administration is being hand-fed information obtained by the NSA and used in the arrest and prosecution of American citizens. The National Security Agency has been quick to assure Americans that the agency is working well within its legal boundaries and is only using the information attained in the pursuance of those suspected as terrorists. However, Reuters has charged that a covert DEA unit is being given information on American citizens from the NSA through intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, a massive database of telephone records and informants. The information is then being used by the DEA to launch domestic criminal investigations.. Reuters also reported that the DEA is training federal agents to retroactively recreate the investigative trail in an effort to conceal its NSA leads in order to cover up its relationship with the NSA. In essence, the DEA is using fraudulently obtained information to prosecute US citizens in domestic drug cases and lying to judges, prosecutors and attorneys. One day after the story broke on Reuters, in an e-mail to the Guardian, the US Department of Justice said they were aware of the allegations and launching their own investigation to get to the bottom of it. They will be investigating themselves, again. Depending on what the investigation concludes, it may be possible that those charged and prosecuted in drug crimes in which DEA evidence was used against them would have cause to have their cases dismissed. It is also a clear violation of the right to a fair trial and due process as documented in the Constitution. As The Washington Post notes, the issue is troublesome because of the blurred lines between foreign and domestic investigations, which permit different tactics; the NSA is a military intelligence agency that is supposed to conduct spying on non-US citizens, whereas agencies like the DEA and FBI are tasked with domestic criminal investigations that must respect the constitutional rights of US citizens. Felman, an attorney in Tampa, said: “By the sound of it, this is a routine practice of using masses of information on Americans, in an erosion of constitutional protections of our citizens. This is clear evidence of things that people have been saying they are not doing. Collecting data on ordinary citizens and then concealing it officially. It is indefensible.” He went on to say, “”I don’t think that most people would believe that our government would be using these measures and using this excuse when they want to investigate heavy offenses. What is upsetting is that it appears to be policy and practice to consensually conceal information that should be disclosed.” “I have never heard of anything like this at all,” said Nancy Gertner, a Harvard Law School professor who served as a federal judge from 1994 to 2011, “It is one thing to create special rules for national security…ordinary crime is entirely different. It sounds like they are phonying up investigations.” As explained by Reuters, parallel construction may be legal in establishing probable cause for an arrest — but using it to hide how an investigation began could violate the rules of pretrial discovery by keeping useful evidence from defendants. “It’s just like laundering money,” a former DEA agent told Reuters. “You work it backwards to make it clean.” The source of the information remains hidden while being funneled through various outlets in order to make it appear legitimate. “When law enforcement agents and prosecutors conceal the role of intelligence surveillance in criminal investigations, they violate the constitutional rights of the accused and insulate controversial intelligence programs from judicial review,” ACLU deputy legal director Jameel Jaffer said today, regarding the DEA’s actions. “This is inappropriate, dangerous, and contrary to the rule of law.” Some lawmakers have begun to call for the resignation of James Clapper, the Director of National intelligence after being asked in June if the National Security Agency collected “”any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans,” Clapper replied, “Not wittingly”. His response was proven false after leaked court documents showed that the NSA frequently and repeatedly requested Verizon hand over all metadata on their customers ‘ phone calls. Clapper is still currently the Director. Reuters story has seemingly confirmed the worst fears of citizens, lawmakers and prosecuting attorneys that there is a direct link between the National Security Agency and the surveillance measures they take and the criminal prosecution of American citizens on United States soil.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 21:42:42 +0000