DEA Hired TSA Informant to Confiscate Travelers’ Cash
Informant promised a cut of all cash seizures, DOJ investigation finds.
Mikael Thalen | Infowars.com - January 7, 2016 82 Comments
DEA Hired TSA Informant to Confiscate Travelers' Cash
An investigative summary released by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Thursday reveals that Drug Enforcement Agnecy (DEA) paid a Security Screener with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to alert them to travelers carrying large sums of cash.
The report, released by the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), summarizes whether the DEA acted accordingly in registering a TSA employee as a paid Confidential Source (CS).
“The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated this investigation upon the receipt of information from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport Security Screener had been registered as a paid Confidential Source (CS) for the DEA,” the summary states.
“This investigation was initiated to determine whether it was appropriate for the DEA to register a TSA employee as a CS and pay the employee for providing information to the DEA that the employee obtained during the course of his official duties.”
The DEA is reported to have offered the TSA agent a cut of any confiscated cash in exchange for his assistance, raising serious ethical questions about the agency’s practice.
The summary went on to conclude that the DEA did in fact violate policy by offering cash to the agent in exchange for information and could have likely violated individuals’ “protection against unreasonable searches and seizures” as well.
“The OIG further determined that asking the TSA Security Screener to notify the DEA of passengers carrying large sums of money in exchange for a reward based on money seized by the DEA violated the DEA’s interdiction manual, and could have violated individuals’ protection against unreasonable searches and seizures if it led to a subsequent DEA enforcement action,” the summary said.
Despite the DEA’s attempts, the report claims that no actionable intelligence or cash was recovered due to the efforts.
“While the OIG concluded that the DEA violated its policies by registering the TSA Security Screener as a CS and by offering the screener a reward for money seized based on information he provided, the OIG found that the TSA Security Screener did not provide DEA any actionable information while a CS, and was not paid any money by the DEA,” the report concluded. “The CS was deactivated for inability to provide any useful information.”
The OIG’s response to the DEA, which does not appear to include any disciplinary action, consists of an audit of the CS program.
Knowledge of the report will undoubtedly cause further distrust of TSA agents, which according to countless arrest reports and one convicted agent, has a “culture” of criminality.
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