DEA Defends Arranged ‘Busts’ Reported in the News

The Drug Enforcement Administration said Wednesday it plans no change in procedures under which it sometimes arranges for local police to seize drug shipments brought into the United States by DEA agents operating under cover, then claim credit for the “bust.”

Some media executives have complained that it is misleading for state and local police to generate news stories about intercepting drugs already under DEA control.

The controversy stems from an article Sunday in the Houston Chronicle, which said the DEA had arranged drug seizures to generate false news reports that agents could use to deceive drug traffickers.

It is reasonable for police involved in such cases to turn aside reporters’ inquiries into the details of such busts, William Alden, chief of congressional and public affairs for the DEA, said.

Alden said the details come out later in court proceedings, and denied that the media and the public are being misled.

“What we’ve done we feel comfortable with,” he said.

The DEA defended its actions in a meeting Wednesday with Associate Atty. Gen. Francis Keating, who later issued a statement in support of the drug agency.

DEA Policy

“I have been assured that it is not the policy of DEA to lie or mislead the media, nor is it DEA policy to misrepresent information to the media or the public in any fashion,” Keating said. “I am satisfied that this is a wise policy which continues to be carefully followed.”

When DEA operatives are acting as middlemen for South American suppliers, the agency occasionally arranges for domestic authorities to seize the drug shipments to protect the operatives’ cover, agency sources acknowledged. The practice is designed to keep the drugs from reaching local dealers while allowing the DEA to continue criminal investigations of suspected top-level drug figures, they said.