DEA Program "More Troubling" Than NSA

Rambo Tribble writes "Reuters is reporting on a secret effort by the Drug Enforcement Agency to collect data from wiretaps, informants, and other sources. Considered most troubling is a systematic campaign to hide this program from the courts, denying defendants their right to know how evidence against them was obtained. This agenda targets U.S. citizens directly, as it is mainly focused on drug trafficking. From the article: 'Although these cases rarely involve national security issues, documents reviewed by Reuters show that law enforcement agents have been directed to conceal how such investigations truly begin - not only from defense lawyers but also sometimes from prosecutors and judges. The undated documents show that federal agents are trained to "recreate" the investigative trail to effectively cover up where the information originated, a practice that some experts say violates a defendant's Constitutional right to a fair trial. If defendants don't know how an investigation began, they cannot know to ask to review potential sources of exculpatory evidence - information that could reveal entrapment, mistakes or biased witnesses.'"

Comments

Re:Troubling quote from the article

[TheCarp]

Backed into a truncheon? Ut oh, sounds like attempted assault on an officer now. Better call three more cops to bea....er restrain the uh.... slippery bastard. Dude should stop fighting, every time they pick him up he manages to wrestle free and throw himself against the ground, better put him on suicide watch too...wouldn't want him to hurt himself (or be believed)