“Mighty Mike” Does A Heckuva Job At Bushco’s DEA

This AP story tells us a Justice Department audit found that…

…19 of 699 DEA intelligence analysts surveyed had only low-level security clearances needed to review intelligence, while another 62 had not been reauthorized to keep their top secret clearances, as required every five years. One additional analyst had no security clearance at all as of last September, the audit found.

All DEA analysts are required to have top secret clearance in order to fully do their jobs.

“Because our testing showed approximately 12 percent of DEA's intelligence analysts' security clearances did not meet the DEA's security requirements, we are concerned that similar deficiencies may exist in the approximately 19,300 clearances that we did not review,” the audit noted.

Uh huh: the story states that “an estimated 20,000 employees and contractors work for the DEA.”

And here’s why this matters…

The DEA collects intelligence and other information about drug smugglers and shares it with other spy and law enforcement agencies. It was formally included in the government's intelligence community in February 2006.

Other intelligence agencies, including the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the State Department, praised the information gleaned from DEA analysts.

“We also assessed the quality, usefulness and effectiveness of intelligence analysts' work, the audit noted. “Our surveys and interviews indicated that both internal and external users generally were satisfied with DEA intelligence analysts' work.”

However, a survey of 16 DEA intelligence reports found they took an average of 21 months to be completed and published.

Almost two years to complete an intelligence report, God knows how many agency employees working without the proper clearance…yep, this is Bushco, Working For You! yet again.

So who would be in charge of the DEA? Why, that would be “acting” Administrator Michele “Mighty Mike” Leonhart (I don’t know, but somehow I would guess that this administration leads all others when it comes to “acting” department heads, with that prefix assigned since they were temporary appointments who couldn’t pass Congressional scrutiny for one reason or another…Leonhart recently took over for Karen Tandy, who resigned to take a position with Motorola).

This post by Pete Guither tells us more about Leonhart; she definitely fits the Bushco mold in that she’s an opportunist who has worked on behalf of its foul agenda (attacking California’s medical marijuana laws for starters), apparently enjoying the role-playing aspect of working as a DEA agent (she could act as the head of her own organization one day and then be a “dumb girlfriend” the next).

I realize that none of that is illegal. However, Leonhart ended up forging a relationship with frequently used snitch Andrew Chambers for many years; Chambers worked for the DEA from 1984 to 2000 – he was compensated handsomely, but he had this little perjury problem, see, which Leonhart apparently was willing to overlook.

As Guither tells us…

The most startling statement in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch investigation of Andrew Chambers (cited in Guither’s post) was from Michele Leonhart:

"The only criticism (of Chambers) I've ever heard is what defense attorneys will characterize as perjury or a lie on the stand."

She continued by saying that once prosecutors check him out, they'll agree with his admirers in DEA that he's "an outstanding testifier."

That's the key. To an agent like Leonhart, getting the bust and getting the conviction is all that matters. The testimony is good if it leads to a successful conclusion (from her perspective). Why nitpick about the truth?

It should be noted, by the way, that Chambers' snitching career was finally ended (despite numerous complaints within the DEA about Chambers' perjury problem that were ignored) by then-Attorney General Janet Reno in 2000.

And if you’re not going to “nitpick about the truth,” as Guither states so accurately, I’m sure Leonhart’s Bushco handlers would never bother about nitpicking over basic managerial competence either.