Because the Trump administration isn’t authoritarian enough, Buzzfeed News is reporting:
The Drug Enforcement Administration has been granted sweeping new authority to “conduct covert surveillance” and collect intelligence on people participating in protests over the police killing of George Floyd, according to a two-page memorandum obtained by BuzzFeed News.
The DEA has been given the authority...
[...] to go beyond the agency’s mandate “to perform other law enforcement duties” that Barr may “deem appropriate.”
I really don’t have much I can add beyond quoting, so I’ll just quote one more part:
In addition to “covert surveillance,” the memo indicates that DEA agents would be authorized to share intelligence with local and state law enforcement authorities, to “intervene” to “protect both participants and spectators in the protests,” and to conduct interviews and searches, and arrest protesters who are alleged to have violated federal law.
I feel like I should say something more, but I just… don’t know what to say.