Another US spying problem in Latin America: The DEA

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Another-US-spying-problem-by-Mark-Weisbrot-Dea_Intercept_Spying-140620-360.html



DEA agents use NSA intercepts to investigate Americans

Another US spying problem in Latin America: The DEA
By Mark Weisbrot
OpEdNews Op Eds 6/20/2014 at 17:42:52

Relations between the U.S. and Brazil have been in the doghouse since documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden showed that Brazil was one of the biggest targets of NSA spying. The abuses included mass collection of millions of Brazilians' email and phone records, spying on President Dilma Rousseff's personal communications, and targeting the computer systems of Brazil's Petrobras -- the latter with obvious commercial benefits for U.S. corporations.

Rousseff summed it all up rather succinctly in a blunt speech at the United Nations last September, denouncing "a situation of grave violation of human rights and of civil liberties; of invasion and capture of confidential information concerning corporate activities, and especially of disrespect to national sovereignty."

But now, thanks to additional leaked documents described by Ryan Devereaux, Glenn Greenwald, and Laura Poitras in The Intercept, we find there is another U.S. agency working with the NSA that poses similar threats: the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). According to the documents, there is a "two-way information sharing relationship" between the DEA and NSA: it's not just the NSA helping the DEA catch drug traffickers, but also the DEA helping NSA with its non-drug-related spying programs.

From the Intercept: "DEA is actually one of the biggest spy operations there is," says Finn Selander, a former DEA special agent ""Our mandate is not just drugs. We collect intelligence."