Justice Department watchdog to review DEA tactic that permitted deadly fentanyl to hit streets

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department's internal watchdog on Monday announced a review of a controversial tactic in which federal law enforcement allowed fentanyl to hit the streets to build bigger cases against drug traffickers.

The review will examine government policies and wiretap investigations in which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration may have learned of fentanyl deliveries before they happened but stood down to avoid jeopardizing larger prosecutions.

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Current and former agents said that investigative strategy — known as allowing drugs to "walk" — amounts to a gamble with public safety and may have violated Justice Department rules intended to safeguard communities from a synthetic opioid the White House last year designated as a " weapon of mass destruction."

The review comes less than two months after an Associated Press investigation found DEA agents repeatedly monitored — but did not seize — major fentanyl shipments in New Mexico between 2023 and 2025. It was disclosed in a statement by Justice Department Inspector General Don Berthiaume, one of his first official actions since being sworn in Friday.

The DEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. DEA Administrator Terry Cole requested a narrower inspector general inquiry following AP's reporting, including a review of his agency's handling of a whistleblower complaint brought by Agent David Howell.

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Cole wrote in an earlier statement that his request for an outside inquiry "should not be interpreted as reflecting any lack of confidence in the professionalism or integrity of DEA personnel."

Howell told AP that federal authorities "poisoned our community to make cases" in New Mexico. An internal DEA report reviewed by AP detailed how the DEA watched and declined to interdict a fentanyl delivery of 74,000 pills in a mobile home park in Albuquerque.

The fentanyl went unseized amid the deadliest drug epidemic in U.S. history and as DEA led a public awareness campaign — "One Pill Can Kill" — emphasizing that even a few milligrams of the substance can be lethal.

The inspector general said the review will focus on the Justice Department's actions over the past two years. It could determine whether the DEA permitted similar drug shipments to occur in other cities.

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Howell said he expects the review to show federal authorities "endangered the public through willful inaction."

"We welcome a third-party review of the tactics DEA and the New Mexico U.S. Attorney's Office used to needlessly put Americans at risk of exposure to fentanyl," said Tristan Leavitt, president of Empower Oversight, a whistleblower advocacy group representing Howell.