![]() The report made little mention of the turmoil that has roiled DEA operations in Mexico, where law enforcement cooperation collapsed amid the tenure of a regional director who was quietly ousted from his post for having improper contact with lawyers for narcotraffickers.ĪP reported earlier this year that Nicholas Palmeri served just 14 months in the post and retired before an Office of Inspector General report found he sought government reimbursement to pay for his own birthday party. ![]() Johnson did not respond to emails seeking comment. Public records show the no-bid contract was awarded to the law firm WilmerHale, where Johnson works, at a cost of $1.4 million. ![]() The external review was conducted by former DEA administrator Jack Lawn and Boyd Johnson, a former federal prosecutor who handled international drug cases. Other recommendations included more regular audits of foreign offices and vetted police units, and stricter controls on expenses. “DEA also could do more to ensure supervisors are effectively evaluated and ultimately held accountable for compliance-related issues,” the review found. The probe found fault with the bureaucracy it said bogs down the assignment of agents to foreign divisions and recommended putting incentives in place to attract “top talent to hard-to-fill offices.” It also blamed the “corrupting influence” of cartels for instances of “individual misconduct by DEA personnel.” ![]() Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General. “Interviews and documents demonstrated that the DEA has already largely implemented the recommendations from the DOJ OIG to enhance the oversight of compliance risks arising out of the agency’s foreign operations,” the review concluded, referring to the U.S. Also, Irizarry’s lawyer told AP he offered to make his client available for an interview for the review but was never contacted. An ongoing federal grand jury inquiry into some of his jet-setting former DEA colleagues was mentioned in a footnote. Irizarry’s case got one paragraph in the external review. “It was a very fun game that we were playing.” Irizarry told the AP last year that DEA agents have come to accept that there’s nothing they can do to make a dent in the flow of illegal cocaine and opioids into the United States that has driven more than 100,000 overdose deaths a year. The external probe was announced in 2021 following reporting by The Associated Press on the crimes of José Irizarry, a disgraced former DEA agent now serving a 12-year federal prison sentence after confessing to laundering money for Colombian drug cartels and skimming millions from seizures and informants to fund an international joyride of fine dining, parties and prostitutes. The agency has attempted to dodge my oversight inquiries but I intend to push forward.” “This speaks to the agency’s broader effort to evade oversight. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “This report is stunningly vague in its actual evaluation of known problems at the DEA and remedies to fix them,” said Sen. Much of the 50-page report outlines the DEA’s sprawling, 69-country “foreign footprint,” while lauding its efforts to plug gaping holes in the oversight of undercover money laundering operations and special vetted units overseas. Drug Enforcement Administration on Friday released an external review of its overseas operations that barely mentions recent corruption scandals and offers recommendations that critics dismissed as overly vague. NEW YORK (AP) - After nearly two years and at least $1.4 million spent, the U.S.
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