Posted on 04/19/2009 10:15:30 PM PDT by zaphod3000
Turf battles between U.S. immigration and drug-enforcement authorities could jeopardize narcotics investigations and threaten officer safety, says Congress's investigative arm.
A report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, set to be released Monday, says Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder should quickly develop new rules for carrying out drug investigations. It also says Ms. Napolitano should order her agents to share intelligence that has been withheld from the Justice Department.
Both Immigration and Customs Enforcement, reporting to Ms. Napolitano, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, which reports to Mr. Holder at Justice, are sending more agents to the nation's southwestern border......
The GAO report, viewed by The Wall Street Journal, documents longstanding conflicts and jurisdictional disputes between ICE and the DEA.
"This is bureaucracy at its worst. Eight years after 9/11, law-enforcement turf battles should be over," said Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who requested the investigation. "Instead, we're seeing that the failure of these agencies to work together is compromising the safety of our federal agents. This is unacceptable."
By law, the DEA is the lead agency for investigating narcotics trafficking inside the U.S. But the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for law enforcement at the nation's borders. Because the vast majority of drugs brought illegally into the U.S. each year comes across the border with Mexico, investigative responsibilities frequently overlap.
The agencies' roles are defined by a 1994 agreement giving the DEA oversight of ICE's drug-related investigations. It limits to about 1,500 the number of ICE investigators who can work on drug cases across the country. It also gives the DEA the power to pick which immigration and customs agents can be involved.
The agreement is outdated and its mechanics "have proven to be inefficient and problematic," the GAO report said
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
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