The U.S. Justice Department's internal watchdog announced a review of a controversial tactic employed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that allowed fentanyl to reach streets to facilitate larger cases against drug traffickers. The review will scrutinize government policies and wiretap investigations where the DEA might have known about fentanyl deliveries before they occurred but chose not to intervene to avoid jeopardizing ongoing prosecutions.
Current and former agents have described this investigative strategy, often referred to as letting drugs "walk," as a gamble with public safety. Critics suggest it may have violated Justice Department rules designed to protect communities from the synthetic opioid, which the White House has classified as a "weapon of mass destruction."
This review follows an Associated Press investigation in recent months that found DEA agents repeatedly monitored, but did not seize, significant fentanyl shipments in New Mexico between 2023 and 2025. The announcement was made in a news release by Justice Department Inspector General Don Berthiaume.
The DEA has not yet responded to requests for comment. DEA Administrator Terry Cole had previously requested a more limited inquiry by the inspector general following the AP's reporting, including a review of how the agency handled a whistleblower complaint from Agent David Howell. Cole stated that his request for an outside review "should not be interpreted as reflecting any lack of confidence in the professionalism or integrity of DEA personnel."
Howell told the AP that federal authorities "poisoned our community to make cases" in New Mexico. An internal DEA report that the AP reviewed detailed instances where the agency observed and did not intercept a fentanyl delivery of 74,000 pills in an Albuquerque mobile home park. This occurred during the nation's deadliest drug epidemic and while the DEA was conducting a public awareness campaign, "One Pill Can Kill," highlighting the lethal nature of even small amounts of fentanyl.
The inspector general's office indicated the review will focus on actions taken by the Justice Department over the past two years and could potentially uncover whether the DEA has permitted similar drug shipments in other cities.
New Mexico authorities are continuing their own investigation into whether DEA agents violated state law by allowing hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to enter the streets of Albuquerque. State Attorney General Raúl Torrez has expressed frustration, threatening legal action after the Justice Department declined to provide requested records. The DEA has also reportedly prevented Howell from being interviewed by state officials.
"The state is bearing the societal and financial harms of an influx of fentanyl into its communities," Torrez wrote in a recent letter to federal authorities. Additional whistleblowers from the DEA in New Mexico have come forward, with one alleging colleagues failed to seize 350,000 fentanyl pills that were identified during an early wiretap interception in 2024. This shipment was part of an investigation that ultimately led to the largest fentanyl seizure in DEA history, though court records indicate agents had opportunities to seize thousands of pills but allowed trafficking to continue for months.
Another whistleblower filed a complaint this month alleging that colleagues monitored, but did not apprehend, a courier making repeated fentanyl deliveries from Phoenix to Albuquerque between 2022 and 2023. Agents estimated these deliveries contained between 50,000 and 100,000 fentanyl pills that went unseized.