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Saturday, April 19, 2025

GAO: Coordinating DEA and HSI’s Illicit Drug Operations

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) evaluated the coordination between the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) regarding cross-designated counternarcotics operations. Between FY 2019 and 2023, DEA authorized over 4,000 HSI agents annually to participate in drug investigations, focusing on smuggling across U.S. borders. However, DEA lacks tracking mechanisms for processing times of these authorizations and has not set timeliness goals.

Additionally, although DEA and HSI agreed in 2021 to implement two joint training modules to enhance collaboration, these have yet to be finalized due to ongoing disputes over content. The agencies have not utilized their agreed-upon dispute resolution process to overcome the impasse.

In response, GAO issued three open recommendations:

  1. The DEA Administrator, with support from the Director of ICE, should establish and monitor timeliness goals for cross-designation processes. They should also collect and analyze data on the time involved in the processes.

  2. DEA should collaboratively finalize and implement the training modules per their 2021 agreement.

  3. ICE should collaboratively finalize and implement the training modules per their 2021 agreement.

Read the full GAO report here.

Erin Caine
Erin Caine
Erin Caine is a recent graduate of the University of Mary Washington where she earned a B.A. in Communication and Digital Studies with a minor in Business Administration. She graduated summa cum laude with both University and Departmental Honors. Through her coursework in communication campaigns, news journalism, social media, and digital marketing, Erin has experience creating impactful content and campaigns designed to raise awareness for an organization. She brings strong skills in writing, interpersonal communication, web design, digital editing, and video production. She completed a major project with the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank, a non-profit near her campus. During this project, she worked closely with the organization to understand its most urgent needs and used these insights to develop a brief, targeted social media campaign. She produced a campaign plan that included social media graphics, compelling copy, and an original promotional video that the organization could use to encourage youth volunteering. As a student, she worked at UMW’s University Center for three years and was a supervisor during her final year. She gained valuable experience coordinating event logistics, providing customer service, and distributing tasks amongst a team. She also brings significant leadership experience through her extensive involvement on campus.

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