DEA Responds to Narco News Story, Says It Will Investigate Agents in Colombia

By Dan Feder,

The DEA is already feeling the heat from Bill Conroy’s explosive report published in Narco News this week. Conroy received a leaked internal memo written by attorney Thomas M. Kent, an attorney with the U.S. Justice Department. The memo accused Drug Enforcement Administration agents working in Colombia of massive corruption, of cooperating with drug traffickers, of murdering informants, and of helping that country’s dreaded rightwing paramilitaries to launder drug money.

Now, just four days later, the DEA is responding to questions from journalists with the following emailed statement, promising a full investigation into these “extremely serious” allegations…

DEA PRESS STATEMENT

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) holds our workforce to the highest ethical standards and regards the ethical performance of duty as our first priority. DEA takes very seriously any allegations of misconduct, abuse of position, or criminal action. The allegations that are reported in the Narco News Bulletin are extremely serious. DEA's Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating the allegations that have been made. DEA will continue to ensure the fair and impartial administration of justice and uphold the integrity and reputation of our outstanding workforce.

Garrison K. Courtney
DEA Public Affairs

The silence has been broken, and soon the DEA will have to explain why it failed to respond to these allegations for over a year and silenced those agents who did try to denounce the corruption.

But take this announcement with a grain of salt. The same DEA Office of Professional Responsibility that promises to investigate these charges is named in the Kent memo as a leader of the cover-up that stopped them from coming to light long ago.

This story is only going to keep gathering speed, so stay tuned…