Who Holds the DEA Accountable When Its Missions Cost Lives? | Hacker News Reader

Who Holds the DEA Accountable When Its Missions Cost Lives?

propublica.org

73 pointsGeekette15 comments

Out of all the government agencies, the DEA is the worst from its misguided inception, to grotesquely unjust execution. It should have been disbanded a decade ago.

But think of the children.

...and this is the central problem with government bureaucracy: there are a LOT of people at the DEA that have invested their careers there. They're going to lobby and fight hard for continued relevance, even as policies shift.

This is part of what's slowing down any refactoring of drug policies -- the DEA is often lobbying (and using their authority) in the best interests of the DEA.

Stated more directly: it's in the DEA's interest to keep marijuana Schedule 1.

Technically Congress and the Courts, however history has shown this generally doesn't happen. Unless someone files a lawsuit, the FBI intervenes, or the case gets tremendous media attention (i.e. ATF with Ruby Ridge) the Government is often given the benefit of the doubt by Congress, etc.

If Trump wants to cut agency budgets, the DEA would a be a good start.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? [who watches the watchers] This problem has plagued the public from the President all the way down to "dog catcher."

i.e. The Justice department selectively enforces laws depending who is president and the FBI/DEA/CIA/ATF obeys and consequently the little guy gets slammed.

These examples inspire people in our society like "Walter White" (breaking bad) and "Vic Mackey" (the Shield) to enforce their own laws.

If oversight could be mastered in some way, most of our civics problems would go away.

> The Justice department selectively enforces laws

Prosecutorial discretion is a feature of all law enforcement in the US, not just the DoJ.

More evedence we need to quickly and completely rething how we deal with drugs. Thank god we've finally started legalizing pot.

The same people who were held accountable for the war in Iraq.

I specifically logged in to upvote this.

I love the downvotes you received - it shows that people here are sorely ignorant of history and probably should be stripped of the right to vote in light of that fact.

The downvotes are likely because the GP doesn't add much to the conversation. It's an uninspiring one-liner that a grade schooler might say because their parents told them the government is incompetent. The article is documenting a tragedy that the DEA doesn't even report. This is in fact unlike the military, which often issues reams of (secret) documents on the outcomes of military operations.

Yes, there are secrets in the government. There are parts of the government that aren't accountable. This doesn't mean we should turn out back on them all. The DEA does have too much autonomy. The "War On Drugs" has insufficient accountability.

> The downvotes are likely because the GP doesn't add much to the conversation. It's an uninspiring one-liner that a grade schooler might say because their parents told them the government is incompetent.

That sounds a bit too specific. Why would somebody go so low to call you uninspiring in grade school out of all places?

There is a difference between making a meaningful conversation and having a conversation just to spew gibberish.

The intelligent individuals are well aware that discussing this is a waste of time -- you can save the generic 'Well maybe if we talked about it the DEA would change!' for your friends.

To demonstrate how out of touch the rest of your comment is; we need to take one simple thing into consideration:

The DEA was working with Mexican authorities, and the information was classified across two parties. They have no obligation to share anything with you, especially when the Mexican government is involved.

That information is above your pay grade and for a very, very good reason.

If the DEA was held accountable for the atrocities they've committed, every agent that has ever worked for them would get at least one lifetime in prison, if not worse. That'd be justice. That'd be holding them accountable.

This statement is irrational. It's misguided and ignorant to state that every agent of the DEA deserves life imprisonment. This serves to detract from the discussion.

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