ICE memos reveal ongoing problems with informants, undercover ops

The case of the House of Death serves as a poster child for those problems. Between August 2003 and mid-January of 2004, a dozen people were kidnapped, tortured and butchered at the House of Death in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, with the help of a U.S. government informant — who was under the watch of ICE, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Now, several internal ICE memos have surfaced that indicate the agency is continuing to have problems with how it deals with informants and undercover operations in general. Prompting the memos, in part, according to Narco News sources, is the fact that ICE supervisors in various field offices around the country are inappropriately using undercover operation funds. As an example, supervisors in some ICE offices are allegedly using undercover operation funds to lease high-profile luxury vehicles, such as Cadillac Escalades, for use as their assigned government vehicles.

In addition to the fact that this is an improper use of undercover operation funds, Narco News sources point out that it also is a major waste of money. Given that ICE has been a giant sucking sound within DHS over the past several years -- running through cash like it was candy -- it is somewhat laudable that someone within ICE finally got around to issuing a few memos about minding the candy store.

However, doling out money for ICE supervisors to drive fancy cars is not to the first instance of an inappropriate use of funds in the ICE budget. Narco News previously reported that an improper payment was made to the House of Death informant/murderer, known as Lalo, in order to allegedly keep him under control in the wake of the cover-up hatched within DHS and the Department of Justice after the murders came to light in the media.

From a July 5, 2005, story posted on Narco News:

Then, the first hints of the informant’s role in the murders in Juárez hit the media in the spring of 2004, and the cover-up went into full swing, according to sources. The problem is that the informant Lalo had leverage because of what he knew. He was demanding more money, sources indicate.

That’s what allegedly led one of Lalo’s ICE handlers, a high-level supervisor in El Paso, sometime between March and June of 2004, to put a payment through to him using a dead informant’s “source number,” which is a number assigned to all confidential sources in order to keep their identity concealed.

Although it is not clear how much money was given to Lalo through this means, sources indicate that it was discovered by someone at ICE headquarters in Washington, D.C….

Although the sources bringing this information forward to Narco News have asked to remain anonymous due to concerns that it might lead to retaliation from ICE officials, at least one individual was willing to go on the record confirming that his sources also have verified that the over-the-top Escalade G-car leases and the improper payment to Lalo did take place.

“Some supervisors out there are using special [undercover] operations funds to get new vehicles and toys, things they can’t get through appropriated funds,” says Mark Conrad, a former high-level supervisory agent with U.S. Customs, which has since been merged into ICE. “There’s no reason for a supervisor to be driving a new Escalade. They can get around in a far less expensive vehicle.

“As far as the falsification of the documents in the informant’s (Lalo’s) file,” an ICE supervisor did “authorized a payment to the informant” using a dead informant’s source number, adds Conrad, who currently serves as the associate general counsel for the National Association of Federal Agents.

When confronted with these allegations, however, ICE spokesman Dean Boyd could only stick to the company line.

“By policy, ICE never discusses its undercover operations,” Boyd said. “What I can tell you is that ICE routinely conducts internal audits and reviews of its operations.”

ICE Memos

So, it seems only appropriate for Narco News to provide a little more insight into the happenings behind that company line at ICE.

Following are excerpts from two memos obtained by this publication concerning the findings of recent ICE “internal audits and reviews.”

From a memo dated March 13, 2006:

Memorandum For: All Special Agents in Charge and Attachés; Assistant Director, International Affairs; All Deputy Assistant Directors

From: Marcy M. Forman, Director, Office of Investigations

Subject: Recurring Certified Undercover Operational Deficiencies

Based on recent Office of Professional Responsibility, Management Inspection Unit audits and Headquarters, Undercover Operations Unit field reviews, certain recurring deficiencies have been identified within several certified undercover operations:

The memo goes on to discuss four major problem areas.

There has been a failure to appropriately document operational expenses….

Improper monthly reconciliation of operational bank accounts and CUFFS (Certified Undercover Fundamental Financial System) records has hindered the ability to timely identify financial discrepancies within certain operations….

Receipts, which are required by policy for every transaction, are sometimes absent….

Operational travel and subsequent reimbursement has occurred in the absence of travel authorizations and vouchers (most of which are processed manually)….

You can view the entire memo at this link.

From a memo dated March 15, 2006:

Memorandum For: All Deputy Assistant Directors; Assistant Director, International Affairs; All Special Agents in Charge & ICE Attachés

From: Marcy M. Forman, Director, Office of Investigations

Subject: Recurring Confidential Informant Handling and Documentation Deficiencies

Based on recent office reviews of the CI (Confidential Informant) program conducted by the ISD, Undercover Operations Unit field reviews, and Office of Professional Responsibility, Management Inspection Unit audits, certain recurring deficiencies related to CI handling and payment documentation procedures have been identified. The nature of these digressions is of particular concern due to potential misperceptions relating to the integrity of personnel involved.

The problem areas identified in the memo are as follows:

There has been a failure to appropriately document payments to CIs….

Failure to adhere to proper authority levels for payments…..

Payments to CIs are not properly documented via a CF-293 and are not witnessed by two Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs)….

Payments of commissions and stipends are being made to CIs without approved PAAs (Personal Assistance Agreements) in place. A PAA is not active until the Unit Chief, Investigative Support Unit, ISD [Investigative Services Division], approves it….

In addition to the abovementioned deficiencies, the ISD has received many inquiries from the field regarding whether fugitives may be documented as CIs. A fugitive shall not be documented as a CI….

OI [Office of Investigations] special agents shall have no communication with current or former CIs who are fugitives, unless communication is part of a legitimate effort to facilitate arrest. If this occurs, all OI special agents who communicate with a fugitive who is or was a CI must promptly report such communication to each federal, state, and local law enforcement agency that has “wanted” records in NCIC [National Crime Information Center] for that individual. Communications with these fugitives must be documented within that person’s CI file….

The entire memo can be viewed at this link.

Driving Miss Forman

So, some two years after an ICE informant was implicated in participating in the murders of a dozen people, while under the watch of ICE agents, it appears the agency is still working out some bugs in its undercover and informant operations. Again, the fact that the memos were written is a good sign; the fact that the problems persist — and, in the case of the House of Death case, continue to be covered up – is a disturbing, given that these undercover operations are used to make cases that send people to jail (possibly even to their deaths at the hands of the state).

But there is yet another memo that might help explain the thinking at ICE Headquarters with respect to the agency’s stewardship of the people’s money and resources.

Conrad and other sources confirm that the director of the Office of Investigations, Marcy Forman, is utilizing the ICE Headquarters duty agent as a personal chauffeur to take her to appointments at all hours of the week, including meetings in D.C. or to the airport.

The Headquarters duty agent assignment is rotated weekly among ICE agents and serves the legitimate purpose of serving as an additional Headquarters point of contact for field supervisors dealing with major events that occur outside of normal working hours. The driving assignment, however, is another matter.

From the duty-agent memo:

Memorandum For: All Headquarters Special Agents

From: Marcy M. Forman, Director of Investigations

Subject: Headquarters Duty Agent Assignments and Responsibilities

The Office of Investigations has long held a practice that requires certain agents to serve as the Headquarters Duty Agent to assist with certain duties, including the transportation of OI [Office of Investigations] executives.

… Attached to this memorandum, you will find a Duty Roster identifying those Special Agents who have been assigned Duty Agent responsibilities for one-week periods during the next four months.

… Agents are expected to continue to perform their normal duties throughout the workday, but to be on call for and give priority to the needs of the Director [Forman] and her staff.

The entire memo can be read at this link.

The use of the duty agent as a personal chauffeur for Headquarters personnel, and the message being sent to agents in the field given ICE’s recent well-publicized resource shortages, is creating some morale issues among those agents, according to Conrad.

He adds that Forman and others at ICE Headquarters could just as easily get to their appointments via taxi or the D.C. Metro subway. At a minimum, he adds, someone other than a special agent, whose primary responsibility is to investigate federal crimes, could be called on for the driving duty.

“Sometimes, these people get caught up in their own self-importance,” Conrad adds. “I hate to see it, but that mentality is out there.”

ICE spokesman Boyd responded to the duty-agent issue, when asked by Narco News, as follows:

With respect to the use of a duty agent and agency vehicles for transportation at headquarters, ICE agents and officials only use such transportation for official business.

My Rant

“Official business,” and the people’s business seem to be at odds more and more in recent years in the current climate of government secrecy and slight of hand. In this environment of smoke and mirrors, accountability often is sacrificed under the pretense of security in the context of fighting the war of the moment -- against ubiquitous foes such as “terrorism” or “drugs.”

But, at times, some simple, yet revealing, insight comes along that goes a long way in explaining the current state of affairs in this country’s government.

I recently received a bit of this wisdom in the form of an E-mail from a source, an attorney who handles cases of alleged government retaliation and discrimination against federal agents and whistleblowers.

Here it is:

… Screw up; move up.

Isn't this the credo of government management personnel, including our President, who gave out commendations to the screw-ups over Iraq intelligence.

The grunts get fired and the managers get commendations as long as the screw-up has been covered up sufficiently, and when the press notes the screw-up, all is denied.

The motto of the old Customs Service [now part of DHS] is:

"In a crisis situation in the United States Customs Service, there are three rules: Rule Number One — ADMIT NOTHING; Rule Number Two — DENY EVERYTHING; and Rule Number Three — MAKE COUNTER ALLEGATIONS.”

I even have a document which says this, which according to my sources, was on bulletin boards in several offices throughout the U.S. I introduced this document in one of my cases and it was accepted as evidence.

The document, a flyer of sorts, likely was posted in the Customs offices in a tongue-and-cheek jest, though irony always conveys an underlying truth. The fact that a judge saw fit to allow the document admitted into evidence in a legal case drives home that point.

In any event, based on past experience, it doesn’t appear that high-ranking officials within ICE treat such embarrassing internal documents as a joke.

The last time Narco News published an internal memo written by ICE’s Forman, this writer received a visit from a couple of ICE agents, who demanded to know the source of the leak. In hindsight, that visit might have been part of a plan to advance Rule Number Three above, that is, raise “counter allegations” attacking the messenger.

To save everyone time if such a course is contemplated this time, just so we’re all clear, the source of these leaks is the free press and its constitutionally protected right to inform the people of this democracy about the government’s “official business.”

With that in mind, stay tuned to this site for future memos and other documents that might help to foster a Rule Number Four for our government: Be honest with the people.