DOJ to "review" secret DEA spying unit Revelations that the DEA , like the NSA, was using vast dragnets for criminal cases can't be news to the DOJ

It was revealed this week that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has a special, covert unit that uses dragnet spying techniques, including wiretapping vast phone databases and using information from controversial NSA programs, to launch criminal -- not national security -- investigations. The unit then intentionally hid the trails of its information gathering, creating instead "parallel constructions" to explain how certain evidence was obtained.

Following cries of foul play unconstitutionality (by hiding how evidence is obtained the DEA denies defendants a fair trial), the Justice Department Wednesday said it would look into the covert unit known as SOD (Special Operations Division). A DOJ investigation hardly satisfies privacy and civil liberties advocates; representative agents from almost every government law enforcement agency, including the NSA, CIA and FBI, helped with SOD programs -- is it possible that the DOJ genuinely only heard about the shady unit when Reuters published its investigation?

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According to DEA agents who spoke to Reuters, the DOJ was well aware of the agency's surveillance and coverup activities. As Techdirt noted: