Audit of the Department of Justice Terrorist Watchlist Nomination Processes

Audit Report 08-16
March 2008
Office of the Inspector General


Appendix III
Drug Enforcement Administration Response

U. S. Department of Justice
Drug Enforcement Administration



www.dea.gov Washington D.C. 20537





MEMORANDUM

TO: Raymond J. Beaudet
Assistant Inspector General
    for Audit
Office of the Inspector General

FROM: Gary W. Oetjen
Deputy Chief Inspector
Office of Inspections
Inspection Division

SUBJECT: DEA’s Response to the OIG’s Draft Report: Department of Justice’s Consolidated Terrorist Watchlist Nominations Processes, January 2008

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has reviewed the Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) draft audit report, entitled: Department of Justice’s Consolidated Terrorist Watchlist Nominations Processes. DEA appreciates OIG’s efforts to conduct a thorough review of DOJ’s terrorist watchlist nomination process. As a result of this review, DEA concurs with the one recommendation directed at DEA and will take the necessary steps to implement the recommendation.

Although OIG realizes the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the only DOJ component that officially nominates individuals for inclusion onto the consolidated terrorist watchlist, OIG understands that DEA has established policies and processes for sharing terrorism information with the FBI, other agencies and the U.S. Intelligence Community. DEA also appreciates that OIG noted that the process for sharing terrorism-related information was well understood by DEA domestic field office management.

The following is DEA’s response to the OIG’s recommendation:

Recommendation:  Ensure the correct sourcing of watchlist records involving information shared by their agencies and clarify responsibility for keeping these records accurate and up-to-date.

DEA concurs with the recommendation. DEA has been in close coordination with National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Deputy Director Russ Travers concerning this issue. Deputy Director Travers understands that DEA intelligence documents that contain information on known suspected terrorists are not intended as nominations by DEA, and that DEA has no formal role in the nomination process. Deputy Director Travers’ staff is working on removing references in the system to DEA nominations and clarifying that they are for information sharing purposes only. DEA will remain in contact with Mr. Travers on this issue.

In addition, DEA’s Office of National Security Intelligence (NN) is in the final stages of negotiating a memorandum of understanding with NCTC to place an NN staff coordinator in NCTC whose responsibilities will include monitoring these information sharing efforts to ensure that they are not mistaken to be nominations.

Documentation detailing DEA’s efforts to implement the attached action plan will be provided to the OIG on a quarterly basis, until such time that all corrective actions have been completed. If you have any questions regarding DEA’s response to the OIG’s recommendation, please contact Senior Inspector Michael Stanfill at 202-307-8769.

Attachment

cc: Michele M. Leonhart
Deputy Administrator

Richard P. Theis
Director, Audit Liaison Group
Management and Planning Staff



IN Chron
IN Team A Chron
IN Team A Chron IN DFN: 170-02 OIG/DOJ Watchlist/ DEA’s Formal Response to DOJ Watchlist



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