Aggravated by news that the Drug Enforcement Administration had paid an Amtrak worker for almost 20 years to get confidential train passenger information, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) has asked the head of the DEA for answers, demanding to know if the DEA is making such payments to any other people for similar information.
In a letter to DEA chief Michele Leonhart, Grassley says the story raises obvious questions about a waste of taxpayer funds.
"Has the DEA identified the weaknesses with their internal controls that allowed this improper and unnecessary use of taxpayer dollars to continue for nearly 20 years?" Grassley wrote.
The story only came out because of a mention in a report by the Inspector General's office at Amtrak, which made clear to one of my colleagues today that it was not in any mood to release more information on the case.
This was how it was described, under the heading of "Noteworthy Criminal, Civil, and Adminstrative Actions:"
Secretary Provides Confidential Passenger Name Reservation (PNR) Information for Payment - A secretary to a Train and Engine crew regularly provided confidential PNR information to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents without seeking approval from Amtrak management or the Amtrak Police Department (APD). The employee received $854,460 in payment from DEA for this information from 1995 to the present. APD and DEA participate in a joint drug enforcement task force. The drug task force members can obtain Amtrak PNR information from APD task force members at no cost. The actions of the secretary prevented APD from jointly working with DEA in narcotics trafficking on Amtrak property, thus depriving APD from receiving $854,460 in asset forfeiture funds. The secretary was removed from service, and company charges were filed. The secretary chose to retire. We suggested policy changes and other measures to address control weaknesses that Amtrak management is considering.
One question that might be raised is whether the Amtrak employee reported the income to the IRS - and whether the DEA did as well.
Evidently the payments went on even as the DEA and Amtrak worked together on a joint drug enforcement task force, which should have been able to access the passenger data for free.
It was not clear how Amtrak finally became aware of the DEA payments to the secretary.
About the Author
