and you know all about the green, yellow, and red lights in front of you. >> thank you. >> could you please pull the microphone a little bit closer to you? >> members of the subcommittee, it is my honor to appear before you to discuss your oversight of the dea and our role in reducing crime, protecting the american public from drugs, and increasing our nation's security. before highlighting dea's programs and recent accomplishments, i want to first thank you for your continued support of our essential law enforcement mission. your partnership is especially appreciated in light of the ever changing challenges we face. today a hallmark of our many drug traffic organizations is the increasingly global nature of their operations. traffickers are using the latest technology to conduct their daily business from

sophisticated communication divisions and services to laundering money through electronic value transfers. they use innovative transportation methods, using drugs in everything from planes to tunnels to wooden ka ncanoes fully submersible submarines. we can never let up or we will never catch up. dea and our partners are successfully disrupting, dismantling and destroying major drug trafficking networks. our enforcement actions are reducing the availability of drugs and the harm they cause. our efforts are integral to our nation's comprehensive drug control strategy. one of the highest priorities for dea today is stopping the diversion of prescription drugs and precursor chemicals from legitimate use. today more people abuse prescription drugs than those that abuse heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine combined. in response, the dea has dedicated more agents to

investigate criminal prosecution of prescription drug diversion than ever before, and our regulatory arm is dedicated to ensuring compliance with the law for those who 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 for more than 3,000 law enforcement partners in all 50 states, our four takeback days have collected almost 800 tons of prescription medication that would have languished in medicine cabinet where is they could have been diverted. soon, we will be implementing the secure and responsible drug disposal act which you passed into law. through this act, dea will be providing the nation with a permanent solution to the problem of proper drug prescription 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 scheduling 26 substances used in products like k-2 and spice, which will help us control and prevent these dangerous drugs from doing more damage. unliked controlled prescription drug diversion, which is principally a domestic drug challenge, the majority of the organization responsible for other drug threats operate internationally. most immediate of these threats comes from mexico-based control organizations and drug cartels. they are responsible for the vast majority of violence there and increasingly in many countries, including central america. in our operations there and elsewhere, dea relies on our close ties with our brave international parter ins, and these relationships extend beyond on-the-ground operations and involve training and intelligence in resource sharing. dea has close, deep ties with mexico, relationships that will have an impact in turning what

is a threat to their 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 training, 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-iraqing members from all the mexico-based cartels, such as jose antonio acosta hernandez, who is sentenced to life in federal prison in april after admitting his role in 1,500 murders since 2008, including the triple homicide of a u.s. consulate employee and two consulate workers' family members. we share mexico's responsibility in commitment to confront, fight, and defeat these poly-drug trafficking

organizations to take away the money and freedom of their leaders. dea is also working with the government of afghanistan to counter the drug trafficking problem there. last week, a notorious afghan drug trafficking with ties to the taliban was sentenced to life in prison on narco-terrorism charges in the u.s. his heroin was traced to 20 countries. in one year, it's estimated he applied about 20% of the world's heroin supply. supported by you, he will never be free. i have great confidence the dea with your support will continue to meet and overcome those challenges and those that lie ahead. and they're not insignificant. from the growing list of designer synthetic drugs to the reemergence of methamphetamine, from the increasing presence of drug traffickers in west africa, 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 we should give up or surrender. some argue that legalization and regulation even at the cost of untold human suffering and misery would strip the traffickers of their enormous profits. both common sense and history have taught us that those who are displaced from the drug trade migrate into other areas of criminality, and we have a responsibility in a nation of laws to enforce the law, and i've devoted my life to this duty and all the people at dea are committed to this goal and to this fight, a fight in which 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. >> without objection. thank you very much for a very comprehensive statement. let me use my five minutes to try to pack in as much as i can.

first, let's get the issue of daniel chong, a 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? >> thank you for asking about that incident, mr. chairman. i'm deeply troubled by the incident. the dea is deeply troubled by the incident. the incident was a mistake. it wasn't malicious. and it 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, entire agency was shocked by what happened. and no one's more shocked than the agents that were actually 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 inspector general for the department of justice. and they're conducting the investigation, but in the interim, i ordered the assessment, i felt compelled 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 sacks. we've entered in the discussion about thousand make sure this doesn't happen any place else. we've put many different procedures in place already. and all 21 sacks have reviewed their policies and their procedures. they've initiated changes to ensure that this never happens

again. >> that's nice to know. now, let's talk about carta. the secret service has been very public in disciplining and in fact dismissing any of the agents involved in the prosecution scandal there. have any of the dea agents who were involved there been disciplined? >> well, let me say that this is -- i'm extremely disappointed by the conduct allegations in colombia. these allegation are not representative of the 10,000 men and women that work for the dea. >> well, i'll stipulate that. and nor were the secret service agents who were involved on their end of the 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, can assure you we moved

immediately, very quickly, as soon as information was given to me by 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 oig has taken on the investigation. we are cooperating with them and making everybody available, all witnesses and are assisting them wherever possible. the action that i could take, however, was i curtailed their tours in colombia. they are presently on limited duty. while the investigation is taking place, oig is still completing interviews. so it's not really appropriate for me to prejudge the result. but i guarantee you that they will face, if there was misconduct, they will face our

disciplinary process. >> now, have you investigated mr. collison's allegations relating to fast and furious, and if so, what's been the result there? >> well, i can tell you that that too is still under review by the oig. we're all interested in resolution there, so we can find out who knew what, when, and where. as far as mr. coleson, you should know we understand that he retracted his statement, so we are waiting for 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 statement. he said he was misquoted and retracted it. beyond that -- >> i think we know that guns have been getting in the hands

of criminals. well, let me say 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 when the scandal came to light. and i will accept the suggestion that the ranking member of the full committee, mr. conyers has made, to have another hearing. the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. leonhart, the research center has estimated that any incarceration rate starts creating diminishing returns and over 500 per 100,000 becomes actually counterproductive. you're adding to the crime rather than detracting from it.

our incarceration rate in the united states is over 700 some per 100,000. in minority communities in some states, it's as high as 5,000 per 100,000. what role does dea policy play in overincarceration in the racial disparity and what is dea doing about it? >> thank you, ranking member. i can tell you that the drug enforcement administration, our mission is really 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, the supply, the heads of organizations, the heads of drug cartels, the heads of trafficking organizations, transportation organizations, those that most impact the drug

supply on the united states. for instance -- >> well, has any dea policy contributed to over-incarceration and the racial disparity? >> well, there are federal drug laws that dea enforces. you as congress, you set the laws, we enforce the federal laws. we go where our intelligence takes us. we go where the evidence takes us. >> well, what is the policy of the dea on mandatory minimums. they've been studied and found to be discriminatory. what is the dea policy on mandatory minimums? >> there is no policy for dea on 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 since

they've been found to be discriminatory and a waste of money and e ektfective in reducing crime? >> we do our investigations, we conduct our operations without regard to the sentencing. but the department of justice was very -- >> well, in terms of sentencing, when you're dealing with local, state, and federal task forces, there are aellegations that som of the task force results have been referred to federal court and some referred to state court. federal court, we have the draconian mandatory minimums, have been shown to have a discriminatory minimums, and meth cases tend to be tried in state court where they're not subject to those kinds of mandatory minimums. is that dea policy? >> that is not dea policy. again, we bring our most significant cases to federal

court. we bring the sources of supply and those responsible for the drug supply on the streets of the united states and much of the violence. >> so 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 crack versus powder. the department has been very supportive of that. our role as investigators, though, is to investigate, follow the evidence, go after the most extreme traffickers, and that's what we do. >> are you aware of the study that showed that for about -- that you can reduce drug abuse by 1% with $35 million in treatment and 250 and up for law enforcement side? are you familiar with that study, and if so, how does that

affect the strategy of the dea? >> well, i don't know if it's the same study. i am familiar with studies that show the savings -- you know, 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 reduction and prevention. >> are you putting the same amount of resources in both? >> i'm sorry? >> are you putting similar resources in both? >> this past year, there was more money spent on prevention and treatment than there was on domestic law enforcement. >> the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from florida, ms. adams. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to go back over a couple of things earlier on. the issue with the san diego

holding cell where the person was held, as you know, no need in rehashing it all. but 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 diego, the standard policy is that anybody that is detained, and they're only detained in our field division for interviewing and processing, that the agents and task force officers in the group that brought that defendant in is responsible for him while he's there being processed, and is responsible until he is either brought to jail or released.

since this incident, the san diego field division moved very quickly to put in a divisional order and policies and procedures that actually spell out what everyone's duty is. and we share that with the 20 other field divisions that also put these in place. >> so in other words there was no one assigned to make sure that 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 unwritten that it's always the responsibility of the group's supervisors, of the group responsible for the defense. >> good to know then. it's not written down, so 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, i'm just so astounded and baffled by how this could happen. i know you have 226 domestic

offices in 21 field divisions throughout the u.s. and 85 foreign offices in 65 countries. they are all led by special agents in charge called sacs. these divisions include boston, new york, philadelphia, solution, san diego, los angeles, and the caribbean. the new york post reported there's significant impact on agent morale. there's agenting iacting sacs divisions. and again, i'm a former deputy sheriff. knowing how important a stable chain of command is, knowing that your rank and file need to have the leadership, knowing that they need to have the direction, knowing that there should be policies and

procedures in place, why are so many sac positions vacant? and are you doing anything to fill these? >> thank you for asking the question. in filling vacancies, some are open for extended periods of time, but when a sac leaves, retires, or is transferred, there is someone put in charge. it's only recently been that we've had a confirmed administrator, myself who rose up through the ranks, and a confirmed deputy that causes this domino effect, and so as we move our chief of operations into the deputy position, now we are moving the pieces, we are putting people in place. all the field divisions that have been vacant have had very, very strong and good leadership. >> so you are working to fill them? because i have a lot more questions and i want to get my time in. i have a question.

was the impact of there being an acting sac in san diego an 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 streamline policy for every one of your divisions to follow and then those that have other things? like, if you have a holding cell, you will make sure that before you close that office every day, that you go through that holding cell -- one, you sweep for people. two, you sweep for any contraband. i would say that every time you put someone in, you make sure there's no contraband in. every time you take them out, you do the exact same thing. when you leave every day, 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 agents that are working with mexico, let's say, to be armed when across the border?

and if so, why? because as we know, we have lost one of our agents that was not armed and was murdered. i just want to know if it is still the policy, are you still from moating that policy or are you trying to change that policy. >> having been a former law enforcement officer, you know that 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 -- 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 it. i yield back. >> the gentlewoman's time is expired. the gentleman from michigan, mr. conye conyers. >> thank you, chairman. i appreciate your announcing that there will be continued

hearings about dea and its role. you will note, madam director, that i originally pointed out in my remarks that we spend huge amounts of resources and the rate of illegal drug activity continues at about the same pace. have you been able to reflect on that in terms of "how i met your mother" 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, misperceptions

about actually the drug situation and especially when it comes to teens. i do want to tell you that 650,000 fewer teenagers are using drugs today than a decade earlier. that's a 15% decline. the balanced drug strategy that we have has played a role. marijuana used by teens has dropped 7%. methamphetamine has plummeted 67%. ecstasy use has been slashed 42% and cocaine use is down 40% since 2006. meth has dropped even more, 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, and the enforcement. you need all three. and that is one of the causes that we're seeing changes in drug use. obviously we're concerned with the up tick in prescription drugs, legal drugs, but we have been able to change the use, drug use. we've also been able to change availability of drugs on the street, especially cocaine. and since 2006, since partnering with the calderon administration in mexico, we actually have had sustained increases in the price of cocaine and we've seen the purity plummet. >> well, this goes contrary,

your statement, which is -- i'm happy to hear it. and, of course, you know, you're coming back before us, so i'll have a chance to check what you're telling me against information i have not validated yet. the statement that bothered me here was the drug addiction rates at currently 1.3% in this country are the same ratio as in 1971. and that we've spent over a trillion dollars in appropriations fighting this war. and it's pretty stagnated.

are we just citing different pieces of information to support our positions, or is there some correctness in the citation that i just gave you? >> the figures that i am using are from the monitoring the future study, which has been used to look at and to track trends in teen drug use. it also comes from the statistics from quest on workplace drug testing. and if you're using the year 1971 and comparing it with this year, you have to remember that the highest rates of drug use, those years were '74, '75, and '76. they spiked significantly after

1971. it's undisputed that we actually are having the lowest rate of cocaine use in this country in 30 years. >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> mr. chairman, can i just point out that i want to continue this discussion outside of the hearing room between now and the next time we have the distinguished witness in. >> okay. the statement will be in the record. the gentleman from puerto rico, mr. pierre luisi. >> thank you again for meeting with me in february to go over the public safety crisis we are facing in puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. you as much as any other federal official have an intimate understanding of how serious this problem is. the number of drug related homicides in puerto rico