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(U//FOUO) The 'Dope' on the NSA-DEA Relationship
FROM:
NSA's SIGINT Representative to DEA (S112)
Run Date: 04/28/2005
How NSA tips off DEA to illegal drug activity (S//SI)
(U) Knock and Talk. That's what they call it when cops get a tip, knock on the door and politely
work their way in to ask questions and look around. If the tip is good, it usually works in favor
of the cops.
(S//SI) When a Guatemalan woman was arrested for possession of 2.5 kg of heroin this past
February at a New York City hotel, neither she nor the NYPD and DEA agents who arrested her
had the slightest idea that the tip that sent them to her hotel room came from the most reliable
source of all -- NSA SIGINT. And no USSID-18 violations occurred.
(S//SI) How did that happen? The DEA/NSA relationship is well established and runs so
smoothly, that when an opportunity like this one comes along, it goes like clockwork. DEA
routinely receives tear line reporting at the SECRET or CONFIDENTIAL level from NSA's
International Narcotics Division (S2F1) and passes it to ASACs (Associate Special Agent-inCharge) at Special Operations Division (SOD), who in turn pass it to a cleared POC in the field.
The POC shares the SECRET-level information with no one else in the field, but that POC may
advise the agents to check out a particular area, presumably on a tip.
(S//SI) In this particular case, S2F1 had been targeting foreign drug traffickers and learned of a
drug delivery to take place in the U.S. The traffickers discussed the woman who would courier
the drugs and her travel plans. S2F1 issued a report, identifying the hotel simply as a US hotel,
according to USSID-18 regulations. Upon reading the report, DEA requested and was given the
name of the hotel in order to further a federal narcotics investigation. The name of the foreign
national was passed in the tear-line reporting, as would be expected. The POC was able to say
to his agents: "I think you ought to go to this hotel and see if there is a woman staying there by
this name. And take a dog with you."
(U) So the DEA agents, who trusted their boss, took along some NYPD and a drug-sniffing dog,
found the suspicious name on the guest list, and did their knock and talk. The Guatemalan lady
was arrested, and DEA is proceeding with the investigation, getting closer to the command and
control of the drug trafficking organization.
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
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DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108