War on Drugs

The DEA has its own secret surveillance program for Americans.

"The unit, called the Special Operations Division, was created in 1994 to combat Latin American drug cartels and comprises partner agencies including the FBI, CIA, NSA, IRS, and Department of Homeland Security. Perhaps the most disturbing part of the program is that agents are told to use “normal investigative techniques to recreate the information provided by SOD,” according to documents obtained by Reuters, pretending that an arrest came from a random traffic stop and drug search, for example, rather than SOD surveillance."

More evidence that surveillance is always limited by technology, never by law. DEA lies to defense attorneys about this.

"Despite assurances from top intelligence officials that the National Security Agency only conducts certain surveillance operations to pursue suspected terrorists, a report from Reuters alleges that a secretive Drug Enforcement Administration unit is using NSA data to launch criminal investigations of US citizens for drug crimes. In a troubling twist, Reuters reports that the DEA is covering up its relationship with the NSA by training federal agents to retroactively recreate the investigative trail in an effort to conceal its NSA leads."

Like I said, every agency gets this NSA data. From the previous article:

"Reuters reports that the effort by the DEA's Special Operations Division (SOD) has resulted in the agency essentially lying to defense lawyers, prosecutors, and even judges about how their investigations began."

I guarantee you it's not just the DEA. Every federal criminal conviction in the US could be challenged because of this. Defense attorneys should flood the courts with challenges.