That's what Reuters is reporting:
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 . . . 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.
More after the squiggly . . .
Apparently it's not enough that the NSA and CIA can warrantlessly wiretap American citizens in violation of FISA, PATRIOT ACT and the Constitution . . . . excusing their own illegality by claims of national security. It appears the War on Drugs may give the Feds similar rights to violate the law the War on Terror does:
“I have never heard of anything like this at all,” said Nancy Gertner, a Harvard Law School professor who served as a federal judge from 1994 to 2011. Gertner and other legal experts said the program sounds more troubling than recent disclosures that the National Security Agency has been collecting domestic phone records. The NSA effort is geared toward stopping terrorists; the DEA program targets common criminals, primarily drug dealers.
“It is one thing to create special rules for national security,” Gertner said. “Ordinary crime is entirely different. It sounds like they are phonying up investigations.”
Source of the highly secret intel? Another three letter acronym:
SOD.
The unit of the DEA that distributes the information is called the Special Operations Division, or SOD. Two dozen partner agencies comprise the unit, including the FBI, CIA, NSA, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security.
Today, much of the SOD's work is classified, and officials asked that its precise location in Virginia not be revealed.
"Remember that the utilization of SOD cannot be revealed or discussed in any investigative function," a document presented to agents reads. The document specifically directs agents to omit the SOD's involvement from investigative reports, affidavits, discussions with prosecutors and courtroom testimony. Agents are instructed to then use "normal investigative techniques to recreate the information provided by SOD."
Since SOD is partnered with NSA, the obvious question appears to be: is information illegally obtained by warrantless NSA surveillance being passed on to NSA's partners in SOD? The last time I checked, warrantless electronic surveillance of an American citizen is a felony good for 5 years in prison and a $10,000.00 fine.