There is a top secret division of the US Drug Enforcement Administration that spies on drug runners using wiretaps, informants and electronic surveillance, and tips off the police. The latter take suspects in on petty charges and use the occasion to search the people concerned and their property. This branch of the DEA “doesn’t officially exist”, nor can you find its size, location or budget. Another secret weapon, this time in the “War on Drugs”. Lawyers and judges are never told how the accused were tracked down.

Since we know no details of this outfit it would be inappropriate to comment on its effectiveness. However, what is possible to comment on is paranoia and secrecy. Paranoia because public servants fear openness and seem to resent the demand by taxpayers to be told what the hell is going on; secrecy because this program spends money with minimal oversight and zero accountability. We, the taxpayers are not allowed to know how it is organised, nor are success rates shared with us. Meanwhile, the danger of malicious frame-ups and bogus evidence is obvious. No wonder ethical lawyers are concerned. So should we be.

I am not against jailing drug tsars. They are nasty people. I do think it should be done with the knowledge and support of the populace. This is, in short, another unAmerican example of the subversion of the taxpayer’s right to know, and quite possibly a breach of the Constitution. We can’t say for certain because we haven’t been told. Epicureanism stands for openness and the rule of law. There are just too many reasons to be alarmed at what is happening in this alledgedly open society. Where is the leadership?