DEA Capers

                Michele Leonhart, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, recently told Attorney General Eric Holder that she intended to retire next month, ending a 35-year tenure at the agency. This couldn’t have come as a big surprise to officials, as she has recently faced numerous accusations of mismanagement. Her looming departure, after an eight year reign at the DEA, comes on the heels of a hearing last week in which lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee expressed outrage at her handling of reports that DEA agents stationed in Columbia had participated in sex parties with prostitutes paid for by drug cartels.

                I mean, when in Columbia, do as the Columbians do, right?

                Oh. Perhaps the lawmakers think that drug enforcement agents getting free hookers from drug cartels might be a conflict of interest. Maybe they are worried that said agents will be bought off, or at the very least much less zealous in their drug enforcement activities. Do you think?

                The seven agents who admitted to the accusations were given suspensions of two to ten days. Under stern questioning from the House panel, Leonhart stated that she had been powerless to take more aggressive action such as firing the agents or revoking their security clearances.

                In a statement, Holder called Leonhart a “trailblazer for equality” and a “good friend.”