President Barack Obama irritated some Drug Enforcement Administration agents when he unintentionally excluded the agency from remarks he made Thursday about efforts to combat illegal drugs, Allan Lengel reported for AOLNews.
Obama told a crowd of young people gathered for a town hall meeting shown on MTV that the Justice Department and the FBI are fighting the drug war. He did not mention the DEA, which leads federal government work to stop illegal drugs.
“We have to figure out who is it we’re going after because we’ve got limited resources,” Obama said, according to Lengel. “So decisions that are made by the Justice Department or FBI about prosecuting drug kingpins versus somebody with some small amount, those decisions are made based on how can we best enforce the laws that are on the books.”
One agent told Lengel that Obama “has no clue” about drug law enforcement. Another agent told the reporter that the president’s remarks show that the DEA is “an afterthought, the stepchild when it comes to the FBI and Justice Department.”
The DEA and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, both DOJ agencies, have grown increasingly frustrated with the FBI, which is also part of the DOJ. DEA and ATF agents have expressed concern that their authority and power has waned over the years as the FBI has grown in prestige.
The FBI has taken the lead on fighting terrorism, which has been a top priority of the federal government since the Sept. 11 attacks. Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler in August tried to cool tempers between the ATF and the FBI over which bureau is the primary agency for terrorism-related bomb cases by giving the ATF the lead.
Both the DEA and ATF do not have a Senate-confirmed heads. ATF Deputy Director Kenneth Melson has led the bureau since April 2009. DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart has led the agency since 2007. Obama tapped her as his nominee to lead the DEA in February, but her nomination has stalled in the Senate.
“Well, now I understand why Michele Leonhart hasn’t been confirmed,” William R. Coonce, a former DEA official who led the Detroit office, told Lengel. “The president doesn’t know we exist.”
The DEA declined comment to Lengel. The White House did not immediately respond to request for comment from the reporter.
Wow, certainly feel safer knowing where energy is directed (taxpayer funded) with respect to drugs, dirty bombs and newspaper headlines. With alcohol legitimized everywhere from Catholic churches to public universities, tobacco waning and firearms for everybody, how about the US military take over the real drug wars – Mexico, Afghan, Colombia – and put the DEA and ATF to bed under a big FBI comforter. Everyone from the T-bags, GOP greed elitists and the liberals should go for that.