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GAO-25-107839 1 (March 5, 2025)

handle is hein.gao/cmtictds0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Why This Matters Key Takeaways The federal government has identified the use of illegal drugs and misuse of prescription drugs, particularly opioids, as a persistent and long-standing risk to public health in the U.S. The Department of Justice and an executive order created the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 1973, as a single, comprehensive federal agency to lead U.S. efforts against illicit drug trafficking, domestically and internationally. DEA works with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within the Department of Homeland Security to investigate illicit drug activity with a connection to U.S. borders and ports of entry. To facilitate their collaboration, DEA and ICE have entered into agreements including: (1) an August 1994 memorandum of understanding between DEA and U.S. Customs Service, (2) a June 2009 interagency cooperation agreement between DEA and ICE, and (3) a January 2021 joint letter. We refer to these documents as agreements in this report. These agreements, among other things, outline the mechanisms to provide agents from ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with authority to investigate violations of controlled substances laws contained in Title 21 of the U.S. Code (i.e., cross-designation under Title 21 authority). The January 2021 agreement requires DEA and HSI to create two training modules, including a joint training on the June 2009 agreement. The goal was to present the information to DEA and HSI special agents with one voice to help ensure consistency in implementing it. We were asked to examine how DEA and HSI coordinate on counternarcotics investigations. This report addresses the extent to which DEA is following its process to review HSI agent requests to participate in counternarcotics investigations, and the extent to which DEA and HSI have implemented the provisions of their agreement regarding training requirements. DEA has cross-designated an average of over 4,000 HSI agents per year with the authority to participate in counternarcotics investigations under Title 21 of the U.S. Code during fiscal years 2019 through 2023. DEA has not established timeliness goals for its Title 21 cross-designation processes and does not track processing time. This prevents the agency from ensuring it can make timely, data-driven decisions about the program. DEA and HSI officials have not implemented the training requirements pursuant to their January 2021 agreement. This prevents these agencies from ensuring their agents are properly trained and effectively collaborate on counternarcotics investigations. Page 1 GAO-25-107839 Combatting Illicit Drugs Page 1 GAO-25-107839 Combatting Illicit Drugs

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