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DEA
Congressional Testimony [print
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April 5, 2006
STATEMENT
OF
THE HONORABLE KAREN P. TANDY, ADMINISTRATOR
DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION
BEFORE THE
UNITED STATES SENATE
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE
AND RELATED AGENCIES
APRIL 5, 2006
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Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:
Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf
of the
President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 Budget request for the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA). I appreciate your strong and continued support for the
important work of DEA – reducing the availability of illicit drugs in the
United States. Every single day, DEA’s brave men and women combat the world’s
drug trafficking organizations. We wage the battle on every front. It begins
with the cultivation or manufacturing of drugs, complete with the movement of
chemicals, carries on through the transit zones and final distribution in our
nation’s communities, and concludes with the laundering of the distribution
proceeds. Furthermore, the battle extends well beyond our borders into foreign
lands and into cyberspace. To this end, DEA continues to be an active partner
in the war against global terrorism and protecting the homeland.
While we have made great strides over the years and continue to adapt to
the increasingly complex challenges that face modern-day law enforcement,
much work
remains to be done. The resources that Congress provides are critical to
our success and all of us at DEA are grateful for the Chairman’s and the subcommittee
members’ leadership.
In my statement, I will summarize some of our important successes of 2005,
summarize the President’s request for DEA, and discuss some of the
challenges that lie ahead. An attachment for the hearing record that provides
additional mission-related
data also is included.
Fiscal Year 2005 Accomplishments
Through
continuous strategic thinking and planning, DEA is able to meet the
ever-changing demands of contemporary drug enforcement.
Ours is an organization that has had
to be agile and resourceful in order to combat those whose criminal methods
become more and more refined and complicated. Our successes in
FY 2005 are in those
areas that are the agency’s foremost priorities:
Financial and Money Laundering Operations: DEA focuses
on the dismantlement of the financial infrastructures of drug trafficking
organizations, and
the payoff
has more than met expectations. In FY 2005, DEA stripped domestic and foreign
drug traffickers of nearly $1.9 billion in drug proceeds and revenue denied,
which included $1.4 billion in asset seizures and $477 million in drug
seizures. This, Mr. Chairman, exceeds DEA’s FY 2005 $1 billion goal for asset and
drug seizures by 90 percent. Furthermore, DEA’s seizures nearly match DEA’s
FY 2006 enacted appropriation for our Salaries and Expenses Account. We
have developed a five-year plan with an ultimate goal of taking $3 billion
away from
all drug trafficking organizations by FY 2009, and we are committed to
meeting our goal. In FY 2006, DEA will transform its current temporary
staffing in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, into a permanent presence, with a commitment of four
positions (including two agents). These positions will serve as a liaison
for all drug
enforcement matters, including financial investigations. We also are in
the process of standing up a financial investigations team that will be
staffed in Bogota
and Cartagena, Colombia, and we anticipate establishing a money laundering
group in Mexico City. It is our goal by adding offices in these regions,
that we will
be able to bolster our efforts to take potentially billions in drug profits
away from trafficking organizations, and inflict enough damage to leave
them unable
to reconstitute their operations.
Since the launch of our “Money Trail Initiative” in July 2005, more
than $36.2 million in proceeds that traffickers attempted to smuggle from the
United States have been seized. An investigation during FY 2005 by a DEA-led
multi-jurisdictional Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) of
a Colombian-based money laundering operation resulted in 81 arrests and the seizure
of $7.8 million. During FY 2005, DEA continued to be a key leader in the multi-jurisdictional
law enforcement effort that targeted the 45 “Most Wanted” drug
trafficking and money laundering organizations, commonly referred to as
CPOTs (Consolidated
Priority Organization Target). As a result of this critical supply reduction
strategy, 6 CPOTs have been dismantled and removed from the list of 45,
and the operations of another 6 were significantly disrupted. In addition,
in FY 2005,
121 CPOT-linked drug trafficking organizations were dismantled and 204
CPOT-linked organizations were severely disrupted.
Fighting Methamphetamine: DEA has redoubled its efforts to fight
methamphetamine and continues to turn the tide against the use, trafficking,
and manufacture
of the drug. DEA takes a comprehensive approach to combating a problem
that poses a unique and deadly threat to communities across America – enforcement,
domestic and international precursor chemical control, and the identification
and cleanup of the large number of small toxic laboratories. As trafficking
patterns have changed, so has DEA. We have shifted our focus from the super
labs in the
United States, to the small toxic labs that spring up as a result. This
is in addition to targeting precursor chemical control and increasing our
focus on
the Mexican organizations that conduct the vast majority of the methamphetamine
trade. In FY 2005, DEA spent an estimated $176 million to combat methamphetamine,
including $18.8 million to administer 8,897 clandestine laboratory cleanups.
In August 2005, DEA wrapped up “Operation Wildfire” – a nationally
coordinated law enforcement initiative that was designed to target all levels
of the methamphetamine manufacturing and distribution chain in the country. Two
hundred cities took part in the operation and the results were unprecedented – 427
arrests and the seizure of 95 kilograms of methamphetamine, 201,035 tablets of
pseudoephedrine, 153 kilograms of pseudoephedrine powder, and 224,860 tablets
of ephedrine. In addition, 56 clandestine laboratories were seized and 30 children
were rescued. A second operation in August, “Operation Three Hour Tour”,
resulted in 170 arrests and the dismantlement of three major drug transportation
rings with international ties, as well as 27 U.S. distribution groups.
We estimate that these groups were capable of transporting enough methamphetamine
into the
U.S. to provide product for over 22,700 methamphetamine users every month.
1,634 kilograms of cocaine, 159 pounds of methamphetamine, 9 ounces of
crack, 7 kilograms
of heroin, 216 pounds of marijuana, and 22,000 dosage units of MDMA were
seized in the operation.
In addition to these large scale operations, DEA’s Mobile Enforcement
Teams (METs) continued their methamphetamine focus. Since 1995, METs have
significantly
increased the number of methamphetamine deployments. At the end of the
first quarter of FY 2006, 66 percent of MET deployments initiated targeted
methamphetamine
trafficking organizations. This compares to 21.8 percent in FY 2003, 27
percent in FY 2004, and 41 percent in FY 2005.
DEA also has continued its work with our global partners including Canada,
Hong Kong, and Mexico to target international methamphetamine traffickers
and to increase
chemical control efforts abroad. For example, the United States and Mexico
have obtained a commitment from Hong Kong not to ship chemicals to the
United States,
Mexico, or Panama until Hong Kong authorities have received an import permit
or equivalent documentation. Hong Kong officials also agreed to provide
advance notice to a receiving country before a shipment is made. On the
training
side, in FY 2005, DEA trained 105 Mexican officials in the areas of chemical
control
and clandestine laboratory cleanup. In partnership with Mexican law enforcement,
DEA targets Mexican methamphetamine manufacturers, distributors and sources
of supply based in the western United States and Mexico. One operation
that culminated
in March 2006, included the seizure of nearly 200 pounds of methamphetamine.
Internet Drug Trafficking: In FY 2005, DEA initiated 100
new internet investigations involving the online sales of pharmaceutical
controlled substances. Over
the course of FY 2005, DEA arrested 62 individuals and seized $44 million
in cash,
property, computers, and bank accounts from individuals who had been selling
prescription drugs via the Internet. As a result of one internet drug trafficking
investigation, Operation Cyberchase, DEA identified approximately 200 web
sites that illegally sold prescription drugs and arrested 25 individuals
who had been
operating in the United States, India, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean.
DEA also led a 21-month OCDETF investigation that concluded with criminal
charges
against
the principal Mexican steroid manufacturers, whose U.S. sales totaled an
estimated $56 million annually. DEA has arrested nine individuals, one
of whom was the
owner of three of the world’s largest anabolic steroid manufacturing
operations. Eighty percent of the steroids seized in the United States
last year originated
from Mexican manufacturers.
War on Terror: DEA is well-placed to identify those threats
posed by international terrorism funded by drug proceeds. The case of Afghani
Bashir Noorzai,
who was arrested in the United States in April 2005, illustrates the link
that
exists
between drug trafficking and terrorist organizations. Noorzai was the leader
of the largest Central and Southwest Asia-based heroin drug trafficking
organization known to DEA. Noorzai is charged with providing explosives,
weaponry, and
personnel to the Taliban in exchange for protection for his organization’s
opium poppy crops, heroin laboratories, drug transportation routes, and
members and
associates. Noorzai was also a close associate of a member of the Taliban
leadership. During FY 2005, DEA operations also included the deployment
of five Foreign-deployed
Advisory and Support Teams (FAST) to Afghanistan and the disruption of
8 and dismantlement of 2 terrorist-linked Priority Target Organizations
(PTO).
Currently, Afghanistan is not a major heroin supplier to the United States;
only about 8 percent of the U.S. supply comes from that country. However,
DEA operations
in Afghanistan serve a dual purpose – preventing the country from returning
as a major supplier of heroin to the United States, as it was in the 1970s and
1980’s, and helping stabilize the Afghanistan government as it battles
the powerful drug warlords for control of portions of the country.
Mr. Chairman, I also am very proud to report that the FASTs have played
a pivotal role in protecting the lives of both our U.S. military and our
coalition
partners
in Afghanistan. The teams have identified narcotics traffickers involved
in targeting U.S. forces with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and have
provided critical
information obtained from DEA Human Intelligence (HUMINT) sources to U.S.
Special Forces Teams. In fact, on several occasions after DEA shared its
source information,
the Special Forces have successfully intervened and seized IEDs, other
bomb making materials, and weapons caches.
Assisting Local Law Enforcement: This year, we had an
additional mission in our longstanding support of state and locals – rescue
and cleanup in the Gulf Region following Katrina. Our office in New Orleans
sustained some damage and
our Gulfport office was uninhabitable. Our operational assets had to be
temporarily moved to Baton Rouge. With the funding DEA was provided in
the FY 2006 supplemental
appropriation, repairs have been made and we have been able to return to
our New Orleans office. Currently, we are operating in temporary space
in Gulfport
until repairs can be made for safe occupancy at our permanent location.
In the aftermath of the storm, 251 DEA personnel, including Special Agents,
Special
Agent pilots, Intelligence Analysts, and other technical and logistical
staff were deployed to provide law enforcement and rescue/humanitarian
assistance to
13 law enforcement agencies in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. We
established and manned mobile command posts and communications systems,
and assisted with
the rescue of 3,340 stranded victims using DEA helicopters, which included
70 senior citizens from a nursing home that had been flooded. DEA also
assisted
with patrol assignments, transported medicine to law enforcement personnel
to combat hepatitis, and worked with Texas and Arkansas pharmacy boards
on emergency
refill procedures to serve Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama residents.
I am very proud of the many members of the DEA community who gave so selflessly
at
a time of a national tragedy. You may be sure that we will continue to
support the recovery efforts in the stricken areas in any way we can.
In addition to Katrina assistance, DEA remained dedicated to our critical
state and local partners. For example, in FY 2005, DEA led 217 State and
Local Task
Forces, with an on board strength of 2,096 Task Force Officers and 1,253
DEA Special Agents. We also have provided drug enforcement training to
41,000 state
and local police officers in FY 2005. DEA’s Jetway Program, which
instructs state and local law enforcement officers how to address interdiction
issues in
airports, bus and train stations, and hotel/motel environments, conducted
nine schools in cities across the country during FY 2005. Our Pipeline/Convoy
Program,
which teaches highway patrol officers how to address commercial and passenger
vehicle interdiction issues, conducted 16 seminars in FY 2005. These two
important programs trained a total of more than 3,000 officers. DEA has
trained drug unit
commanders, DEA and other federal, state and local law enforcement intelligence
analysts, and international narcotics leaders. Furthermore, we trained
1,100 police officers in the enforcement areas of clandestine labs and
diversion.
Outreach and Public Awareness: 9,000 people have received victim, witness,
and drug-endangered awareness training in FY 2005. We also launched a public
website
(justthinktwice.com) in FY 2005, designed for young people that provides
information on topics such as methamphetamine, prescription drugs, drugged
driving, marijuana,
and drug legalization. Since the launch of the site, there have been an
average of 200,000 hits per month, and many Governors have written to the
Attorney
General to express how useful they have found the website to be and have
pledged to publicize
the website widely in their states.
Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Request
For
FY 2007, the President’s Budget requests $1.9 billion for DEA ($1.7
billion under the Salary and Expenses Account and $212 million under the Diversion
Control Fee Account). A total of 9,310 positions, of which 4,066 are Special
Agent positions, will be funded. This request represents an increase of $72 million
over FY 2006. I would like to call attention to a few highlights of the President’s
request.
Salaries and Expenses Account
The request includes a $24.8 million investment to fund two initiatives:
Drug Flow Prevention Initiative ($12.8 million and 10 positions)
involves multiple agencies in multiple countries targeting major
drug trafficking
organizations
(CPOTS). This initiative is designed to disrupt the flow of drugs,
money, and chemicals between the source zones and the U.S. The
strategy DEA
employs is to
attack the organizations’ vulnerabilities in their supply, transportation
systems, and financial infrastructures. The program supports the Department of
Justice’s Strategic Goal of preventing terrorism and promoting the nation’s
security and enforcing federal laws and representing the rights
and interests of the American people.
As part of this program, $7.5 million is requested for our very
valuable FAST operations. With this request, DEA has the necessary
resources,
coupled with
Department of Defense funds, to permanently support the five
FAST teams now operating in Afghanistan. In addition, one new
team will
be created
whose
initial focus
will be on Western Hemisphere operations. Under the Drug Flow
Prevention program, 10 positions and $5.3 million also are requested
to expand
a successful multi-agency
cocaine interdiction program known as “Operation Panama Express.” Since
its inception in February 2000, Operation Panama Express has seized 356 metric
tons of cocaine, which averages almost 4 ½ tons per month
for the past six years. The Country Offices in Venezuela, Guatemala,
Honduras,
and Ecuador
and the Caribbean Field Division would receive additional Special
Agent positions. Resources will be used to recruit additional
HUMINT sources
to provide information
to DEA regarding drug smuggling operations involving the transit
of drugs through Central America, and the Caribbean and Eastern
Pacific
zones. The information
from these sources will provide an early warning against narcotics
and terrorist threats, which will ensure that our southwest border
strategy has a defense-in-depth
capability.
I would add, Mr. Chairman, that this initiative follows a successful
DEA 2005 international Drug Flow Prevention initiative (“Operation All Inclusive
I-2005”) that targeted the Eastern Pacific and Western Caribbean transit
zones of Central America and the Central America land mass. By concentrating
law enforcement efforts in this corridor, multi-ton bulk drug shipments were
interdicted before reaching Mexico. All Inclusive’s success with respect
to seizures was unprecedented. Over 46 metric tons of cocaine was seized in transit
zones during the 65-day operation, and included the largest EASTPAC seizures
for the month of August in JIATF South’s history, 21.3 metric tons. At
the same time, DEA’s domestic seizures decreased by 29 percent compared
to the 65-day period prior to the operation. DEA’s domestic cocaine seizures
for the three-month period following the operation decreased by 27 percent compared
to the three-month period preceding the operation, and by 36 percent compared
to the same three-month period in 2004. Although other explanations are possible,
preliminary analysis suggests that All Inclusive may have resulted in a temporary
reduction in the availability of cocaine in the United States. Other All Inclusive
seizures included: the largest ever cocaine seizure in Belize – 2,376 kilograms;
the largest ever currency seizure in Nicaragua – $1.2 million;
3.9 metric tons of cocaine and $5.7 million in currency seized
in Panama; 21 metric tons
of marijuana seized in Mexico. Furthermore, as a result of All
Inclusive, we found that traffickers were forced to delay or
suspend their drug
operations,
divert their routes, change their modes of transportation, and
even jettison loads.
Intelligence and National Security ($11.9 million and 57 positions – including
one Special Agent and 42 Intelligence Analysts). In February of this year, Director
of National Intelligence John Negroponte and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
signed a joint memorandum designating an element of DEA’s Intelligence
Division to be a member of the Intelligence Community (IC). IC membership will
allow DEA to expand and strengthen its existing relationships with our nation’s
intelligence agencies. With 86 offices in 62 countries – the largest law
enforcement presence abroad – DEA is poised to make valuable and lasting
contributions in the intelligence arena. In DEA, intelligence drives enforcement
strategies and operations. This approach has yielded impressive results: since
the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, DEA’s Special Operations Division
has produced 26,499 counterterrorism products for United States law enforcement
agencies with counterterrorism missions; during FY 2005, the El Paso Intelligence
Center responded to more than 260,000 counterterrorism inquiries from federal,
state, and local law enforcement agencies, of which 12 percent were directly
related to counterterrorism. Moreover, as of December 31, 2005, DEA has identified
48 percent (21 of 44) of the organizations on the Department of State’s
Foreign Terrorist Organizations list as having possible ties
to the drug trade.
This request will fund DEA’s entry into the IC. $4 million and 20 positions
(including one Special Agent and 9 Intelligence Analysts) will create a National
Security Intelligence Section (NN) within DEA’s Intelligence Division.
Through DEA’s newly designated element, DEA will pass to the IC any counterterrorism
or national security information it obtains during the course of its Title 21
drug enforcement mission. The NN objective will be to maximize DEA’s contribution
to national security, while protecting the primacy of the agency’s
law enforcement functions. $7 million and 37 positions (including
33 Intelligence
Analysts) will fund the development of a Central Tasking Management
System (CTMS)1 at DEA. The CTMS will track the acquisition of
law enforcement investigative
information and the dissemination of this information to other
law enforcement and IC elements; establish policies and procedures
for
information acquisition
and dissemination; produce acquisition plans, and establish an
interface with acquisition management elements in the law enforcement
community.
Finally, $1
million will establish base funding to continue the Reports Officer
Program, which began as a pilot project in June 2004. The Reports
Officers have proven
beneficial in extracting and passing in a timely manner, DEA
law enforcement information that is relevant to IC requirements.
Specifically, the
Reports Officers review DEA law enforcement intelligence reporting
and develop reports based on
that information which responds to IC taskings.
Program Offsets
In order to fund the Drug Flow Prevention and Intelligence and
National Security initiatives, the President’s Budget
includes the following three offsets:
Regional Enforcement Teams (RET): DEA proposes
to eliminate the RET program, for a reduction of $9 million
and 34 positions
(23
Special
Agents). DEA’s
remaining resources would continue to target the drug trafficking organizations
having the most significant impact on the U.S. RET was seen as a program that
did not tie as closely to DEA’s core focus on international
drug trafficking organizations.
1 The CTMS is formally the “Collection Requirement Management System (CRMS)
as discussed in the FY 2007 President’s Budget.
Demand Reduction Program: DEA proposes to eliminate all positions
dedicated to this program for a reduction of 40 positions
(including 31 Special
Agents) and
$9.2 million. This proposal would allow DEA to focus on its
core mission of drug law enforcement. When possible, however,
Special
Agents would
participate in
demand reduction activities on a collateral duty basis.
Mobile Enforcement Teams (MET): DEA proposes
to reduce by 151 (including 132 Special Agents) the number
of positions
dedicated
to the MET
program, for a reduction
of $30.2 million. The remaining $20.5 million and 83 positions
(including 80 Special Agents) would continue to support the
MET program, with
priority focus
on methamphetamine investigations. In addition to MET deployments
targeting methamphetamine organizations, in the areas of
the county where the
number of clandestine labs
has declined but methamphetamine use still remains high,
I have directed DEA’s
Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Teams (CLET) to begin
investigating U.S. domestic networks that are distributing
Mexican produced methamphetamine.
At the same
time, CLETs will continue their investigations of synthetic
drug labs and will continue to assist state and local law
enforcement agencies
with laboratory,
precursor, and distribution investigations. Finally, DEA
would continue to administer funds from the Community Oriented
Policing Services (COPS)
program for clandestine
laboratory cleanups.
Diversion and Control Fee Account (DCFA)
As I stated earlier, the President’s request includes $212 million
under the DCFA, a $10.4 million increase over FY 2006.
Of the total requested amount,
DEA proposes funding of $3.4 million for DCFA program
improvements. This funding would allow DEA to boost intelligence support (33
Intelligence
Analysts) needed
for diversion investigations. This request is a continuation
of the FY 2006 Diversion Intelligence Initiative, whose goal is to place one
Intelligence Analyst in every
Field Division Diversion group.
Base Transfer
Since 2002, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
has annually reimbursed DEA approximately $6 million
to DEA
for providing
counterterrorism related
information to multiple federal agencies. The President’s
Budget proposes that these resources (which fund
45 positions, including 11
Special Agents) would be permanently
transferred from the FBI to DEA.
Opportunities Ahead
Mr.
Chairman, DEA continues to make steady progress in all facets of its
mission and has seen some
encouraging trends,
particularly
as it
relates
to drug use
among our nation’s children. In fact, the Office of National Drug Control
Policy reports that since 2001, teen drug use is down by 19 percent and on track
to decline by a total of 25 percent by 2007 to meet the President’s drug
use reduction goals. We are a key partner in the effort through the DEA mission
to reduce the drug supply in America. Drug prevention will not take hold and
treatment will not succeed if Americans are surrounded by cheap and plentiful
drugs. DEA implements the President’s National Drug Control Strategy by
disrupting the supply of illegal or diverted drugs, through national and international
attacks to dismantle the entire infrastructure of the most significant drug trafficking
and money laundering organizations that supply our nation’s
illicit drug market.
As you know, the devastation of drugs knows
no bounds and takes an enormous toll on both
human
lives and
our country’s economy.
Moreover, we are seeing that the global drug
trade continues to be an evolving national
security threat
to Americans at home and to our interests abroad.
To address these
disturbing facts, DEA takes a proactive and
aggressive approach. In addition to the FY
2007
initiatives I have outlined, we will use our
existing resources to focus on the following
areas during FY
2006:
(1) Establishing a Methamphetamine Task Force. The
FY 2006 Department of Justice Appropriations
Act directs
the Attorney
General to
establish a
Methamphetamine Task Force (MTF) within DEA.
The purpose of the Task Force will be to improve
and target the federal government’s policies related to the production
and trafficking of methamphetamine. The MTF is comprised of three DEA Special
Agents, two Diversion Investigators, one Program Analyst, and attorneys from
DEA’s Office of Chief Counsel, and the Justice Department’s Office
of Legal Policy and the Criminal Division’s
Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Section. These
are veteran personnel
with extensive experience
and knowledge
in the field, who will acquire and analyze
investigative and intelligence information
from numerous sources.
Their analysis will focus on trends
in: chemical trafficking
and manufacturing methods; clandestine laboratory
cleanup issues; changes in trafficking routes
and patterns;
regional abuse and distribution
patterns; chemical
and equipment sources and methods of procurement;
foreign and domestic precursor sources, and
smuggling and methods
of financing. The MTF
will propose recommendations
for addressing issues identified from the analysis,
and forward them to the National Synthetic
Drugs Interagency Working Group for review
and action.
(2) Implementing the Combat Methamphetamine
Epidemic Act of 2005. As you know, President
Bush recently
signed the
USA PATRIOT
Improvement
and Reauthorization
Act of 2005, which includes the provisions
of the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic
Act. These provisions provide law enforcement
with the necessary tools
to address the spread of methamphetamine manufacture
and abuse across the country
and the
devastating effects that this drug is having
on society. With these much needed chemical
control measures, clandestine
laboratory
operators
will
have more difficulty
in obtaining large quantities of pseudoephedrine
and ephedrine products at retail outlets for
use
in methamphetamine
manufacture.
The Act also
closes
a loophole
that allowed importers to sell pseudoephedrine
to companies that were not identified on the
original import notice,
and enhance
criminal
penalties for methamphetamine
traffickers. These measures are part of a comprehensive
national approach toward controlling this growing
problem and protecting
our nation’s
children.
(3) Increasing Internet investigations and
halting the diversion and abuse of legal controlled
substance
pharmaceuticals. The Internet has
increased
the opportunities
for diversion and is the means by which many
abusers are now purchasing Schedule III and
Schedule IV
drugs. DEA’s plan to target and
dismantle online pharmacies, builds on the
successes of our online pharmacy strategy,
which combines enforcement,
regulatory, and technological efforts to detect
and prevent diversion.
The strategy calls for DEA to coordinate its
Internet investigations with federal, state,
and local agencies, and provide training for
investigators,
prosecutors, the pharmaceutical industry, and
DEA registrants. We have supported
legislative and
regulatory initiatives aimed at curtailing
and preventing online diversion of controlled
substances. Finally,
DEA has taken a leadership role
in the development
and use of new technologies as investigative
tools.
(4) Improving the measures of effectiveness
for DEA programs and operations. DEA is
developing a management
information
tool, the
Drug Enforcement
Strategic Target Analysis Review (DrugSTAR),
to establish links between a Priority
Target’s
disruption or dismantlement and its impact on drug availability. It will be a
key component of the agency’s overall strategic management system. Using
DrugSTAR, DEA will be able to identify our challenges and best practices, focus
on performance and accountability, and demonstrate results in compliance with
the Office of Management and Budget’s
management requirements.
Under DrugStar, DEA also has been piloting
the Significant Investigation Impact Measurement
System (SIIMS), which
collects and analyzes
enforcement, public health,
and social service statistics both before an
organization is taken down and for the six
months
that follow.
This analysis will determine
whether
DEA
targeting
and enforcement operations had real impact
and, if not, enable DEA to redirect resources
and
revise operations
to achieve
great impact.
The
SIIMS system
has generated assessments of three takedown
operations in 2005.
For example, a SIIMS
assessment of a successful New Orleans operation
involving pain clinics and pharmacies revealed
that the operation
had significant
impact on
the availability
of diverted
drugs in that area, lasting for months after
the enforcement operation. Specifically, SIIMS
analysis
revealed that,
among other things,
there were no seizures
by DEA New Orleans of three illegally prescribed
medications in the two months following
the operation. This type of information can
be useful when evaluating DEA’s
performance in reducing drug availability and
for reporting purposes for the Attorney General,
Congress, and the
Office of National Drug
Control Policy.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my remarks. I
would be pleased to answer any questions.
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