Pubdate: Wed, 16 Jun 2010
Source: El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright: 2010 El Paso Times
Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/townhall/ci_14227323
Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829
Author: Maggie Ybarra

JUSTICE REPORT SAYS DEA INTEL OUTDATED

EL PASO -- A Drug Enforcement Administration intelligence center in El
Paso is failing to look at the big picture of drug trafficking and is
distributing outdated information, a report by the Justice
Department's inspector general said Tuesday. The report comes at a
crucial time, when violence is out of control in Juarez because of a
drug war and when tension is mounting on both sides of the border
after a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol
agent on June 7.

The report said that though the El Paso Intelligence Center is highly
valued by its partner agencies and users, it does not fully review and
analyze the information it collects on the activities of drug
traffickers to identify trends and patterns. In addition, the center's
coordination with federal and state intelligence organizations is
inconsistent and does not support several key interdiction programs,
the report said.

The Office of the Inspector General compiled the report by examining
the roles and functions of the center.

Requests to speak to Joseph Arabit, special agent in charge of the DEA
in El Paso, were refused on Tuesday.

The report had 11 recommendations to improve the center's work
relationship with the law enforcement and intelligence communities,
including examining new approaches for making its information more
current and accessible, analyzing the feasibility of digitally
scanning fraudulent documents to identify trends in both sources and
patterns of fraudulent document use, and expanding the center's
existing mechanisms to systematically collect feedback on its products.

The DEA wrote a response letter to a draft of the report on June 1. In
the letter, the agency agreed that the report's recommendations were
necessary and outlined steps to resolve the problems identified in the
report.

But the Office of the Inspector General reviewed the agency's response
and disagreed with it. The actions that the agency said it would use
to map fraudulent document data to a database were inadequate and must
be revised by July 30, it said.

The center was established in 1974. It collects information and
provides it to local law enforcement agencies in the form of a report.

Those agencies then use that information in investigations and
operations that target smuggling and other criminal activities.

"EPIC is the only intelligence center that produces and widely
disseminates reports that summarize the hierarchy, methods and
activities of the major organizations controlling the drug smuggling
corridors between Mexico and the United States," the report said.

Those reports funnel into a key summary report that the center issues
called the Gatekeeper report. But because the Gatekeeper report is
updated infrequently, it is also used infrequently by other
intelligence organizations, the report said.

Phil Jordan, former director of the center, said the Department of
Justice is responsible for the state of the current intelligence center.

He said that about 13 years ago the department dismantled one of the
center's most important units.

The unit was made up of several people who functioned as an
intelligence group.

They funneled back to the center information that provided insight
into the relationships among Mexican political officials, the cartels
and drug trafficking, Jordan said.

"Dismantling one of the most effective units that focused on what was
going on in Mexico was a critical mistake by the Department of
Justice," he said.

Ever since, the center has been less effective, Jordan
said.

U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, said the inspector general's
reports are prepared to help agencies improve their
performance.

"While the report found some areas in need of improvement, it
acknowledged those who depend on the center's intelligence products
found them valuable and useful," he said. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D