two separate investigations simultaneously proceeding on both the Federal and local level, requiring the development of two distinct sets of evidence. The simultaneous investigation of defendants by DEA and the state and local authorities, aside from generating a significant waste in manpower and resources, also heightens the possibility that the ongoing investigation will be made known to those under investigation, since a significant increase in the amount of police work in the area is required.

III. Investigative Techniques

"Requests have been received for personnel rosters and investigative and training manuals of investigative agencies presumably to learn the investigation identities and the techniques the Federal government uses to capture offenders."

- Attorney General's Task Force on Violent Crime August 17, 1981

Item DEA Agents reported that a large scale investigation of a marihuana importation organization encountered FOIA-related difficulties at several junctures: 1) throughout the investigation, witnesses expressed fear for their lives when approached by case agents; 2) defendants were told by other members of the criminal organization that FOIA requests would enable them to identify anyone cooperating with the government; 3) a car rental agency initially refused DEA's request for evidentiary information; and, 4) the defendant in the case, represented by attorneys who had made previous FOIA requests, appeared to have been well aware of DEA's investigative techniques.

DEA Agents share a clear perception that investigative techniques and procedures are much more widely known by the criminal element than they were prior to enactment of the FOIA amendments in 1974. Since that time, DEA has repeatedly received FOIA requests for all of its operations manuals, as well as isolated requests for DEA training materials, vehicle and aircraft identification numbers, radio frequencies used by DEA, and

DEA Agents share a clear perception that investigative techniques and procedures are much more widely known by the criminal element than they were prior to enactment of the FOIA amendments in 1974. Since that time, DEA has repeatedly received FOIA requests for all of its operations manuals, as well as isolated requests for DEA training materials, vehicle and aircraft identification numbers, radio frequencies used by DEA, and descriptions of specific investigative practices and procedures. Information of this type, once released to an FOIA requester, is often distributed among the criminal element. Further, organizations advocating change in existing narcotics laws often support and assist in the distribution of information released through the FOIA. For example, the National Organization for the Reform of Marihuana Laws (NORML) recently published a special edition to its newsletter "Excerpts from the DEA Agents Manual" (Appendix D). The release of this type of information, in conjunction with the release of hundreds of thousands of pages of investigative reports has apparently served to educate and enlighten the criminal element in many of the subtle aspects of DEA's undercover operations, including the use of informants, surveillance techniques, and the technical aspects of many of DEA's more sophisticated investigative techniques.

entitled

Overall, 35 percent of the DEA Agents responding to the survey indicated that they believed the DEA investigative techniques and operations were known to the subjects of the investigations. Of this total, 19 percent believed that this knowledge was gained through the FOIA. Table 7 summarizes the extent to which DEA Agents believed that their investigative techniques and operations were known to the subjects of enforcement, state and local task force, and compliance investigations.

TABLE 6

Investigations in which DEA's Sensitive Techniques
and Operations were Known to Defendants

In more than one-third of the enforcement and compliance investigations sampled, DEA Agents indicated that investigative techniques were known to the defendants, while similar reports were received from 22 percent of the state and local task force investigations surveyed. Of these investigations, DEA Agents indicated 21 percent of the enforcement, 13 percent of the state and local task force, and 12 percent of the compliance investigations were affected by the FOIA. In the majority of these cases, however, DEA Agents were unable to determine whether or not the FOIA was responsible for the defendants' awareness.

Figure 3 indicates the dramatic difference in the affect of FOIA-related problems on high-level and low-level investigations. DEA Agents reported that investigative techniques appeared to have been known by the defendants in 57 percent of DEA's high-level investigations, whereas similar findings were reported in only 25 percent of the low-level investigations.

Of this total, nearly one-third of the effect in the high-level investigations was attributed to the FOIA while only 11 percent of the effect in low-level investigations was so identified. Once again, most respondents indicated that they were unable to determine whether or not the FOIA was the principal cause of the problem.

Figure 3-Percentage of Investigations in which DEA Investigative Techniques and Operations Appear to have been known to Defendants

IV. Sensitivity of Investigations

"In some Federal agencies, a considerable number of FOIA requests come from incarcerated offenders, presumably trying to identify informants or from organized crime figures and drug dealers seeking to find out what the government knows about them and their criminal activity."

Attorney General's Task Force on Violent Crime
August 17, 1981

The extent to which FOIA-related problems affect DEA's more sensitive investigations is a continual finding. As was indicated, 14 percent of the DEA Agents surveyed reported that the FOIA had significantly affected the outcome of the sampled investigations. However, when isolating DEA's high-level investigations, 30 percent were significantly affected by the FOIA.

Figures 1 through 3 indicate the large differences between sensitive and nonsensitive investigations in the percentage of FOIA-related problems identified for each group and the extent to which those problems can be attributed to the law itself. Table 7 summarizes these differences.

Problem

Difficulty

TABLE 7

FOIA-Related Problems in DEA Investigations by
Sensitivity of Investigation*

*Figures in parentheses reflect the extent to which the problem was attributed to the FOIA.

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