dea and what you're doing about it is -- is what kind of changes, or what kind of creative, even imaginative ideas that, can we come up with to really do something about this? it's -- it seems to me that there are policies that might actually reduce consumption that may not have been tried yet, and i'm hopeful that we can examine that. another issue that we may or may not get to today -- >> gentleman's time is expired. >> can i finish the sentence? >> certainly, without objection.

>> it's important to figure out how we can minimize this criminalization and punishment concept by replacing it whip with health and treatment services. i mean if this is only lock them up and throw away the key, it doesn't, i don't think, shed more light in a substantive way that this hearing this morning could bring to this subject. and i thank the chairman for the additional time. >> without objection, all members' opening statements will appear in the record. before introducing ms. leonhart i'm going get into a lock them up and tloep away the key and

decide not to the charge situation sduring the question and answer. maybe that will address some of your concerns. it's now my pleasure to introduce poed's kns. michele leonhart was unanimously confirmed as the head of the drug enforcement administrator sense december. acting since 2007 and served at the deputy administrators since 2004. prior to becoming dea administrator and deputy administrator she held several positions within the dea executive service. she was the special agent in charge of the dea's los angeles field division from 1998 through 2003. she previously held the position of special agent in charge of the dea of san francisco field division in 1997 and 1998. as a career dea special agent, ms. leonhart held several key positions as she moved through the ranks of the dea. in 1995 she was promoted to the

position of assistant special agent in charge of the l.a. field division. between '93 and '95 she held management positions within dea headquarters to include career core executive, secretary of office of professional responsibility, inspector and staff coordinator in the operation division. she has been more than 30 year in law enforcement beginning her career as a baltimore city police officer after graduating from college in minnesota with a batch science in crim gnat justice in 1978. without objection, ms. leonhart, your witness statement will be entered into the record, and in its entirety. i ask that you summarize your testimony to five minutes and you know all about the green, yellow and red lights in front of you. ms. leonhart? >> thank you. chairman sensenbrenner, ranking member scott -- >> could you, please, pull the

microphone a little closer to you? >> chairman and members of the which, it is my honor to appear before you to discuss your oversight of the dea and our role in protecting crime, protect america from drugs and increasing our nation's security. bure highlighting dea's recent accomplishments i want to thank you for your continued support of our essential law enforcement mission. your partnership is especially appreciated in what we face. today a mall mark of our many trafficking organizations is the increasing number of their operations. traffickers are using the latest technology to conduct daily business from sophisticated communication devices and services to laundering money through electronic value transfers. they use innovative transportation methods. moving drugs in everything from

planes to tunnels, from wooden canoes to fully submerced submarines. we cannot let up or we will never catch up. dea partners are successfully disrupting, dismantings networks. enforcing the availability of drugs and the harm they cause and our efforts of integral to the drug control strategy. one of highest priorities for dea today is stopping the per vegs of prescription drugs and pre-cursor chemicals from legitimate use. more use prescription drupgs than heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine combined. in response the dea dedicated more agents to investigate criminal prosecution, prescription drug diversion than ever before and our regulatory arm is dedicated to showing splins with the law for those that manufacture, distribute,

prescribe or sell controlled substances. we have also helped the public help us reduce the supply of prescription drugs through our national prescription drug takeback events, with assistance from more than 3,000 law enforcement partners in all 50 states, our four take-back days have collected almost 800 tons of prescription medications which would have languished in medical cabinets where they could have been diverted. soon we will implement the secure and responsible drug disposal act which you passed into law. through this ax they will be able to provide the nation with a permanent solution with a problem of proper prescription drug disposal. dea is also at the forefront of another emerging trend. synthetic drugs, and i want to thank you for the committee's leadership in schedules 26 substances used in products like k-2 and spice, helping us

control and prevent these dangerous drugs from doing more damage. unlike controlled prescription drug diversion, the majority of the organizations responsible for other drug threats operate internationally. most immediate of these threats comes from mexico based criminal organizations and drug cartels. therapy responsible for the vast majority and increasingly in many countries including central america. in our operations there and elsewhere dea relies on our close ties with our brave international partners and these relationships extend beyond on the ground operations and involve training and intelligence and resource chairing. dea has strong ties with mexico. relationships that will have an impact on turning what is a threat to the national security and rule of law into a law enforcement challenge. indeed our cooperation with the government of mexico is at an

all-time high. in addition to traiting, operational and intelligence bonds, dea and the department of justice has a judicial partnership with the government of mexico that has resulted in nearly 250 extraditions since 2010. and this includes high-ranking members from all of mexico based cartels. such as jose, sentenced to life in prison after admitting his role in 1,500 murders since 2008 including a triple murder of a u.s. consulate employee and two continuelet family members. we share the responsibility and commitment to fight, confront and defeat these polydrug trafficking organizations and take away the many, power and freedom of their leaders. dea is also working with the government 6 afghanistan to counter the drug trafficking threat there. just last week a notorious drug

trafficker with ties to the taliban was sentenced to life in prison on narco-terrorism charges in the u.s. his heroine was traced to 20 countries in one year. it's estimated that he spliped about heroin supply. thanks to the work of extraordinary dea law enforcement personnel supported by you, he will never be free. i have great confidence that dea. yi nor support will continue to meet and overcome these challenges and those that lie ahead, and they're not significant, significant. in the growing list of synthetic drugs to reimmergeant's am pet mooen, to the emerging financial and communication tools being used by criminal organizations and so many more, we have our work cut out for us. but just because the mission is difficult does not mean swhowe should give up or surrender.

some argue regulation even at the cost of stripping traffickers of their enormous profits. both common sense and history have taught us those displaced from the drug trade, migrate into other areas of criminality and we have a responsible in a nation of laws to enforce the law and i'm devoted my life to this duty and all are committed to this goal to this fight. a fight with your support we shall prevail and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today, and i ask that my written statement be added to the record before taking your questions. >> without objection. thank you very much, ms. leonhart for a very comprehensive statement. let me use my five minutes to try to back inasmuch as i can. first let's get the issue of daniel chong who is the 23-year-old who apparently was forgotten in a holding cell in san diego after a decision was

made not to charge him. has anybody been disciplined as a result of this? >> well, thank you for asking about that. that incident, mr. chairman. i'm deeply troubled by the incident. dea is deeply troubled by the innocent. the incident was a mistake. it wasn't malicious and wasn't intentional and during our 39-year history as an agency, we're not aware that anything like that has ever happened and like you the entire agency was shocked by what happened, and no one's more shocked than the agents that were actually in task, that were involved in the incident. immediately upon learning about the incident i ordered a review of our detention policies. we are currently fully cooperating with the office of the ip specter general for department of justice, and

they're conducting the investigation, put i felt kpemed to send a management team from a neighboring field division, los angeles, down to review what had happened, and i've personally spoken with all 21 of our field division zachs. we' -- sacks. we've ebntered conversation making sure this doesn't happen again. we've put many procedures in place already and all 21 sacks have reviewed their policies and procedures, they've initiated changes to ensure that this never happens again. >> that's nice to know. now, let's talk about cartagena. the secret service has been very public in disciplining and, in fact, dismissing many of the agents who were involved in prostitution scandal there. have nip of the dea agents who

were involved there been disciplined? >> well, one, you say that this is -- i'm extremely disappointed by the conduct, allegations, in colombia. these fwrarnlgs are not representative of the tens of thousands of men and miami that work for the dea. >> i'll stipulate that, and, you know, nor were the secret service agent whose were involved in their end of this scandal, indicative of the people who work for the secret service. most of them are dedicated. but the secret service moved quickly. i have not noticed that the dea has moved quickly at all to deal with this. >> well, i can assure you, we me meeved very quickly. as soon as information was given to me bip the director of the secret service, i brought the agents in question out of

country and made them available to the oig. now, it's not being investigated by dea, because the oid has taken on the investigation. we are qualitying with in making everybody available and assisting them wherever possible. the action that i could take, however, was, i curtailed their tours in compia. they are presently orch plims duty. while i'm doing this, the aig is still completing iran viewnterv. it's not appropriate for me to prejudge the results but i guarantee you, that will face if there was misconduct, they face our disciplinary process. >> okay. now, have you investigated mr. closens allegations relating the "fast and furious"? and if so, what's been the result there? >> well i can tell you that,

that, too, is under review by the oig. we're all interested in resolution there so we can find out who knew what, when and wear. as far as mr. colson, you should know that we understand that he retracted his statements, and so we are waiting for the oig review. >> was the part of the statement that mr. colson said, "guns were actually getting in the hands of criminals." part of what he retracted? >> i believe he retracted all his -- he said had was misfolked and distracted it. >> i think we know guns have been getting in the hands of criminals. so -- well, you know, let me say, mr. leonhart, i think your answers have been inadequate in all three -- there's been no discipline.

the oig works at its own pace. the secret service did take very, very quick action from kwt scandal came to light, and i would accept the suggestion that the ranking mech of the full committee mr. conyers is made to have another hearing. >> the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. leonhart, pew research center has estimated that any incarceration rate over 350 per 100,000 starts creating diminishing returns and over 5,000 becomes actually pournt productive. you're adding to the crime rather than detracting from it. that's at $500 for $100,000. ours is over $700 andship and in minority communities in some states it's as high as $4,000 for $100,000.

what role does dea policy play in fb overincars race. and wrap is dea doing about it? >> thank you, ranking member. i can tell you that the joint enforcement administration, our submission really to go after the world's biggest and baddest drug traffickers. we spend our resources, our work hours, going after the largest drug traffickers. the sources that supply the heads of organizations and the heads of drug car des. the heads of trafficking organizations. krpgs organizations. those that most impact the drug it's supply on the united states. for instance -- >> has the dea -- any dea policy, contributed to over incarceration in the racial disparity?

>> well, there are federal drug laws that dea enforces. you as congress kbrk we enshores the federal laws. we go our whip spen. >> what about mandatory man mines found to be discriminatory and ineffective in reducing crime? what is the dea policy on mandatory minimums? >> there is no policy for dea. minimum mandatories. we go where the evidence is. if someone is trafficking drugs, we investigate that, we investigate the organization. >> so you don't have a position supporting mandatory minimums as a crime-fighting tool? sieve they've been found to be a waste of money and ineffective and reducing crime? you don't have a position on mandatory minimums? >> we do our investigation, conduct our operations, without

regard to the sentencing. >> in terms of dealing with state and local task forces, there allegations some of the task force results have been referred to federal court and some referred to state court. federal court, we have the draconian droll court you have minimums, shown to have a discriminatory impact because all the cases get sent to where you get five years minimum and meth cases tried in state court where they're not subject to those kind of mandatory minimums subpoena that dea policy? >> that is not dea policy. again, we bring our most significant cases to federal court. we brng and those responsible for the drug fly and much of the violence.

>> so in a is not -- are you aware of that allegation? >> i'm aware and the department of justice has taken a position on the fair sentencing and the recent change with crackers as powder. the department has been very supportive of thatten our role is to investigate, follow the evidence, go after the most extreme trafficker, and that's what we do. >> are you aware of the study that showed for about -- you can reduce drug abuse by 1% with $35 million in treatment and $250 and up for law ens forcement? are you familiar with that and if show how does that affect the structure of the dea? >> i don't know if it's the exact. i am familiar with the study that showses every dollar put into demand reduction.

every dollar put into treatment, and that is why we're very supportive of the very balanced drug strategy that we currently have in the united states. the president's drug strategy is very clear that you need demand re -- >> putting the same amount of resources in both? >> i'm sorry? >> are you putting similar resources in both? >> well, actually, this past year there was more money spent on prevention fab -- >> more on that than domestic -- >> the time expired. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me go back over a couple things from earlier on. the issue with the san diego holding cell where this person was held, as you know -- we need not rethat she at all. i just have a question. i listened to your answer. what was your current policy at the time this happened?

>> the policies are different in the different field divisions. because they have different -- some don't even have a holding cell. but in san diegodiego. >> if anyone is detained and they're only detained for interviewing and processing, that the agents, the tasks for operators that brought the people then is responsible for him while he's there being process and is responsible until she either brought to the jail or released. since this incident that san diego field division moved very quickly to put in a divisional order and policies and procedures that actually speck

out everyone's duty is and we shared that. >> in other words, there was no one assigned to make sure in a that holding cell or whatever you want to call it, was empty at the end of the day? so that no one was left behind? >> it's -- it's unwritten that it's always -- the group responsible for the -- >> tonight it's not written down. therefore, they didn't follow that type of procedure, because it's very apparent by what happened? which is, you know, as a former law enforcement officer seim r i'm ba of baffle pd and astounded how this could happen. i know you have 226 domestic offices and 85 foreign offices in 65 countries, and they are led by special agents in charge called sacs. 7 out of 21 field divisions are

leadership and have been for several month, some for well over one year. these divisions include boston, new york, philadelphia, st. louis, san diego and the caribbean. the "new york post" reported in april that the new york sags having an impact op -- although there's acting sacs in these divisions, they may or may not feel empowered to make the decisions needed or policy changes needed, due to their acting status. and, again, i'm a former deputy sheriff and knowing how important a stable command is, knowing your ranks need to have the direction, knowing there should be policies answers procedures in place, why are so many sac positions vacant, and are you doing anything to fill these? and when will they be filled? >> thank you for asking the question. in filling these vacancies, some

are open for extended periods of time, but whng a zach leave, retires or is-there is someone put in charge. it's only recently we had an administrator, myself who rose up through the ranks and a confirmed deputy that causes this domino effect. so as we move our chief of operations into the -- now we are moving the pieces. we are putting people in place. all of the field divisions that have been vacant have had very, very good and strong leadership. >> so you are working to fill them? because i have a lot more questions and want to get my time in. i have a question, was the impact of being an active sac in san diego and issue with what happened? >> not at all. >> you said you have different policies for different areas. wouldn't it be easier to set up a major streamlined policy for

everyone of your divisions to follow and then those that have other things. like it up have a holding cel. you will make sure before you close the office will go through that every day. you sweep for people, one, two, for contraband, before -- and i would say that every time you put someone in, before you put them in, you make sure there's no contraband in, and every time you take them out, you do the exact same thing, but when you leave everyday, there should not be anybody in there to be left behind. one other question i have before i run out of time is, is it still the policy of not allowing any of our agencies working with -- across the board? if sho, why? we lost one of our agents who was unarmed and was murdered. is it still a policy?

are you still promoting that policy or trying to change that policy so our men and women can protect themselves while on detail? >> having been a former law enforcement officer you know the safety of our agents is more important than anything, and i would say because of their safety, i would be glad to talk to you not in this forum to discuss those safety issues, and i'm hoping that you respect that, and i'd be glad to come and see you myself. >> i look forward to that and yield back. >> the gentle lady's time is over. >> thank you, chairman sensenbrenner. i feel, and i appreciate your announcing that there will be continued hearings about dea and its role. you -- you will note madam

director, that i originally pointed out in my remarks that we spend huge amounts of resources and they -- the rate of illegal drug activity continues at about the same pace. have you been able to reflect on that in terms of how this keeps going on? and what we might be able to do about it? >> thank you for the question, sir. i think there's a lot of misinformation and misperceptions about actually the drug situation and especially when it comes to teens. fewer teens are using drugs

today than a decade earlier. that's a 15% decline. the balance drug strategy that we have has play add role. marijuana used by teens has dropped 7%. methamphetamine has plummeted 67%. ecstasy use slashed 42%, and cocaine use is down 40% since 2006. meth has dropped even more, and that's 50% since 2006. so we do see these drops in teen drug use. we also see the same corresponding drops in adult drug use. so we are doing something correct with our drug strategy, and we believe that it's the three, the prevention, the treatment, the enforcement. you need all three, and that is on