Drug-war agency ICE short 5,000 bulletproof vests, whistleblowers claim

The hype resulted in the State Department issuing an advisory for U.S. citizens traveling to Mexico. The FBI also issued a bulletin – which was leaked to the mainstream press – advising law enforcers along the border of an alleged plan by narco-traffickers to kidnap and murder federal agents.

The nature of these bureaucratic warnings, however, is highly suspicious, given that narco-traffickers don’t kidnap and murder innocent U.S. citizens unless there is money to be made, and there has been no sudden rash of ransom demands being made by drug organizations. And the FBI, only days after issuing its “internal” bulletin, admitted that the alleged kidnapping and murder scheme was not credible.

Narco News recently contacted the U.S. embassy in Mexico City asking for figures that would back up the State Department’s claims that narco-traffickers are increasingly targeting U.S. citizens. Strangely, those figures could not be produced.

“We don’t have figures to respond to this question at this time,” said Diana Page, assistant press attaché for the U.S. Embassy Mexico. “The consular section is working on helping Americans, so getting statistics together has to wait.” Narco News has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of State seeking the “statistics,” because the truth should not have to “wait.”

So what are we to make of all this hysteria over narco-traffickers targeting Americans? Only the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., know the real agenda. But the truth is not likely to be found in an agenda that appears to be focused on fear-mongering to justify narrow-minded policy goals – whether that is an effort to manipulate the upcoming Mexican elections or to spread disinformation that takes the focus off of real problems here on U.S. soil with the so-called war on drugs.

In harms way

Two years ago, as the war in Iraq was going hot, information surfaced that seemed unfathomable given the perceived superiority of the U.S. military machine. Our troops were being sent into battle without adequate armor, including the “the best available bulletproof vests,” according to a letter written to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld by U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio.

“As soldiers continue to die in Iraq, Americans are demanding answers,” Strickland states in an Oct. 2, 2003, press release detailing his motives for sending the letter to Rumsfeld. “Why don’t all of our troops have the best protective armor available? When will the Pentagon provide this armor to all American troops stationed in Iraq? How many soldiers have been injured or lost their lives because they weren’t provided the highest quality bulletproof vests? And why are we promising this critical equipment to other nations, when so many of our troops obviously still need it?”

Strickland points out in the press release that “despite the Defense Department’s inability to provide protective bulletproof vests for its own troops … the Pentagon has promised more than 8,000 bulletproof vests to foreign troops who take part in securing Iraq.”

So what does this have to do with the war on drugs?

Regardless of whether you are a staunch supporter of prohibition or believe that prohibition is the source of the problem, the truth of the war on drugs, as it is currently waged under the directives of Washington bureaucrats and politicians, is as follows:

1.    A major front of the war is waged on U.S. soil and involves primarily U.S. casualties.
2.    This war is fought with real bullets, and the people doing the dying are the folks in the trenches – including law enforcers, dealers, users and innocent citizens.
3.    Those inside the Beltway who are spouting the rhetoric and propaganda to inflame the war, in almost all cases, are far removed from the realties of the streets of this country where that war is being played out.
4.    The real oligarchs of the drug trade, essentially rich businessmen and bankers, are rarely targeted in the war on drugs, precisely because they are politically connected, which means the source of the corruption that fuels prohibition is not a primary target of the so-called “war.”

That might help explain why the same bureaucratic incompetence, doublespeak and agenda setting that led to a shortage of armor in Iraq for those doing the dying also appears to be playing out for law enforcers charged with engaging in the war on drugs here in the states.

Narco News has interviewed multiple law enforcers in recent weeks who have stepped forward to blow the whistle on the fact that federal agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are being forced to go into the field each day, into the thick of the “war on drugs,” without the benefit of bulletproof vests. One high-level ICE supervisor estimates the agency is short some 5,000 vests.

ICE is melting

One of the primary federal law enforcement agencies tasked with enforcing the laws of prohibition in this country is ICE, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE was created through the merger of several law enforcement agencies, including the former U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Members of those prior law enforcement agencies now refer to each other as Legacy Customs and Legacy INS under the new ICE umbrella -- a distinction that indicates the merger is still very much a work in progress.

Another indication of the serious indigestion resulting from the forced merger is the incompetence exhibited by the bean counters in Washington who oversee the budget for ICE. A recent article in Congressional Quarterly draws out the picture:

Amid the financial chaos of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau (ICE), an audit has now revealed that the agency’s accountants have been keeping the books for about 10 other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies and offices, including the office of Secretary Tom Ridge and the office of Chief Financial Officer Andrew Maner.

The unusual arrangement has sown greater confusion than previously revealed at ICE and created problems with other departments’ finances, according to the audit of DHS’ 2004 financial statements by accounting firm KPMG, as well as some key homeland security officials.

J. Richard Berman, DHS assistant inspector general for audits, told CQ Homeland Security that ICE’s own budget shortfall for 2005 could turn out to be as high as $150 million.

“Their financial statements and records are so poor, I wouldn’t trust any number at this point,” said Berman of the inspector general’s office, when asked what ICE’s fiscal 2005 budget shortfall might be. “I wouldn’t be surprised by a number like $150 million, but I can’t confirm it. When you have $200 million in adjustments showing up at the end of the accounting period, you don’t know what to expect.”

… “Part of the problem was that since ICE had the accounting, they were paying the bills” for other divisions, Berman said.

In many instances, he said, ICE paid the bills of other organizations out of its own pocket, and never got reimbursed.

Russel Knocke, director of the ICE office of public affairs, told Narco News that ICE has recovered a good sum of money from other divisions in the wake of the accounting screw-ups, but he concedes ICE is not out of troubled waters.

Knocke says the creation of ICE and DHS was an "unprecedented start-up." He says the agency did not have its own budget until fiscal 2004 and he concedes that "budget clarity" did not occur until the end of fiscal 2004.

"In fiscal 2004, we did have some budget mapping issues, but more than $500 million has been recouped back to ICE (since then)," Knocke adds.

Knocke also concedes that the agency is projecting another budget shortfall for fiscal 2005, but he declined to put a number on the red ink. One DHS source says the $150 million cited in Congressional Quarterly is on the low end and that the actual figure could be as high as $650 million.

"We will have to apply restraint to assure we end the year with financial responsibility,” Knocke says. “But that will only affect non-mission critical areas. The money for mission-critical services and national security is always there."  

Mission on life-support

Despite Knocke’s assurance that the red ink won’t translate into red blood for agents on the street, interviews with multiple ICE and DHS field agents and supervisors tell a far different story. According to those law enforcers, ICE’s leadership is completely out of touch with what is happening on the front lines.

The budget cutbacks, they claim, have led to a rationing of resources that is affecting “mission critical” areas. Numerous field offices across the country have told their agents to park cars because they can’t afford to put gas in them or complete required maintenance. This has resulted in agents being forced to double- and triple-up in cars.

“This is going on across the country, from New York to San Diego to Miami to Houston and Phoenix,” says Mark Conrad, a former supervisory special agent with U.S. Customs.

One current DHS official explains that forcing agents to double- or triple-up in cars makes doing proper surveillance nearly impossible. Who wouldn’t be suspicious of a car packed with three men in suits? The DHS official also says it creates a safety issue for the agents, because a high-speed chase or a confrontation with an armed suspect can result in three dead agents instead of one.

A veteran supervisor with ICE told Narco News that the budget situation is so bad that many agents have not yet been reimbursed for their service on the presidential campaign, despite the fact that the U.S. Secret Service provided the money to ICE to pay the agents. The supervisor adds that ICE is even considering across-the-board furloughs for agents to deal with the 2005 budget shortfall.

“…The 7th floor brain trust (ICE headquarters) has been hunkered down trying to find a way out of this mess, and the ICE OPLA (Office of Principal Legal Advisor) was drafting several doomsday scenarios … which include: mandatory furloughs (8 hours per pay period per employee) to meet the gap in funding,” the ICE supervisor told Narco News. “It's no wonder agents still have not been paid for their expenses from the Presidential campaign, even though the Secret Service has already paid the money to ICE; they re-programmed it to cover other shortfalls so the agents now have had their government travel cards suspended. Government employees should not have to use their own funds to repay the credit card and then have to wait weeks and now months to get reimbursed by the government.”

Conrad, who oversaw a multi-state region for U.S. Customs and is still in close contact with agents in the field, backs up the ICE supervisor’s claims about potential furloughs.

“I believe they already have contingency plans but do not want that known because of the devastating effect public acknowledgement would create,” he says. “It would also focus serious attention on the incompetence of those in charge.”

Knocke claims the issues being raised by the ICE agents and supervisors are without merit.

As far as agents not getting reimbursed for duty-related service, such as serving on the presidential campaign detail, Knocke says that has to do with process and the number of reimbursements that have to occur. "It is false to suggest that it is related to budget problems," he stresses.

On the issue of pending furloughs, Knocke says furloughs are “not anticipated, not part of the plan, and certainly not the desire of this agency."

"They are not being entertained by this agency; it's not on the table," he stresses.

With respect to agents doubling or tripling up in government cars, Knocke concedes it is possible that it is occurring in some cases.  

"When appropriate as part of an investigation, agents may be doubling up, but it is not due to guidance from headquarters,” Knocke says. “There could be a group supervisor who determines it makes sense (for doubling up to occur on occasion) but it is not the standard, and there is no message from headquarters that has been issued indicating that doubling up should occur as part of a regular practice."

Conrad says Knocke’s responses are “pure unadulterated bullshit.”

A high-level ICE supervisor reacted to Knocke’s “excuses” as follows:

All in all, you got from Knocke what I expected, a disengaged uniform double-speak company line. I didn't expect them to say, "Yeah, we know about it, we just don't have the money to fix it.” You got the official spin that we get as well.

… Knocke’s job is not to tell the truth as it is, but as they want it to appear. Basically, we are getting pissed on and he’s telling you “it’s raining.”

A hard rain

One ICE supervisor who has spent a lot of time in the field as an agent explains that in law enforcement, every time you are sent on an assignment, it is “mission critical.”

“You never know what will happen in the street,” he stresses.

He drives that point home by telling of one incident in which a field agent was pursuing what seemed to be a routine drug case.

“Three years ago, one of our agents was on a simple controlled-delivery case, but when he confronted the suspects, one of them pulled out a shotgun and shot himself in the head,” the ICE supervisor recalls. “… He could have easily shot the agent instead. Ask Knocke and the other bureaucrats in Washington if they sleep well at night knowing that there might be an agent out in his car, with no (bulletproof) vest, in the pitch dark of night, who is afraid to turn on this car because he doesn’t have enough gas, and he’s waiting on a load to come across the border.”

Apparently, the bureaucrats and politicians are sleeping fine. How else could you explain the following, provided by a high-level ICE official:

They have transplanted diseased organs in a healthy patient and the patient is now dying. These INS veteran agents did not have an issued ballistic vest -- none of them (when they were merged into ICE). ... I've since learned that approximately 2,700 INS employees that ICE inherited have no issued ballistic vest. (This includes Investigations and Detention and Removal).

This fact has been communicated to ICE management in memorandums for several months, yet when FLEOA (the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association) raised it to (ICE) Assistant Secretary (Mike) Garcia and Deputy Assistant Secretary (John) Clark, they made as if "this is the first we've heard of it." The problem is, there is no money budgeted in FY 2005 for these vests, or the approximately 2,300 additional vests that are over 5 years old and need to be replaced. I have heard that they have moved ammunition money over to buy some vests, but not enough to cover the gap.

ICE spokesman Knocke stresses that the agency has ordered 700 vests since January. He concedes that Legacy INS agents did not have vests when they came into ICE.

"But the SAC offices (field offices) have vests, and they ensure they are made available when needed and appropriate. ... And we are continuing to actively purchase vests," Knocke adds.

One DHS official says Knocke’s comments demonstrate that he has no idea of how things really work in the field for agents. For example, he explains that each agent has to be measured and fitted individually for a bulletproof vest to ensure protection. Handing out vests like candy before a mission, as a result, is a sure-fire way to get an agent killed. And that doesn’t even address the fact that an agent can take a bullet in the field on even what seems a routine assignment, so rationing vests also puts agents at great risk.

The DHS official also points out that most vests have a shelf life of three to five years. After that point, they need to be replaced because the vests begin to deteriorate and will likely not stop a bullet.

“What are agents supposed to do?” the DHS officials asks. “We are sending them into harms way without vests. What do we say to the family of one of these agents when they get shot, “The vest is in the mail”?

One ICE agent deems the situation critical enough that he is willing to step forward, despite a very real risk of retaliation from ICE management, and have his name used in this story in the hope that someone out there will listen. Al Ortiz is a 26-year veteran of law enforcement who has worked as a Border Patrol agent, an INS agent and is currently employed as an ICE special agent in Tucson.

Ortiz says he does have a vest, one he inherited from his time with Border Patrol. That vest is over 10 years old.

“In law enforcement, you can go into something that may seem routine, and two seconds later everything changes,” Ortiz explains. “I have to know my limits, what to do or not to do, and use my experience and wits every time I knock on a door. I don’t have the equipment I need, but hopefully this (10-year-old) vest will stop something.”