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DEA Website Reaches
Millions
In DEA’s early years, the concept of internet communications
would have seemed like a sci-fi fantasy. But by 2003, in
an age when websites are the main sources for finding or
providing information, DEA kept up with the demand for a
thorough and informative webpage. When DEA’s website,
www.dea.gov first went on-line in 1996, it contained just a
few web files of information—in 2003, the website contained
2,500 files that addressed every aspect of the agency and its
mission. The website featured: recent news stories that
changed almost daily, current drug facts and statistics, recruiting
and training information, and photos of major fugitives.
In late 2002, the website expanded to include webpages
for each of DEA’s divisions. Individual divisions used their
sites to promote local drug news and reach out to their communities.
DEA became adept at using the DEA.gov as a way to reach
out to the public, to community, schools, the media, and our
law enforcement partners. When the site was first created, it
had one million visitors. By 1998, the number of visitors had
grown to 18 million. In 2002, after a major over-haul of the
site and increased efforts to publicize it, the DEA.gov received
100 million visitors. This staggering growth represented
continued increase in public interest in the DEA and
the agency’s improved capability to provide important information
to the American people.
DEA World Goes Hi-Tech
(2001)
In September 2001, the popular DEA in-house publication,
DEA World, was distributed electronically for the first time.
Switching to an electronic format allowed for quicker and
much more frequent publication of the news-magazine and
ensured that everyone in DEA would have easy access to it.
The new publication featured many of the same types of
stories as the older print version but was much more timely
and current. DEA World was published on Webster, the
internal computer network, and each issue had the appearance
of a miniature website. Soon after the first electronic
newsletter was released, entries for the new publication
poured in from all over the field. Employees were eager to
share their local news with the global DEA community. Stories
in a typical issue featured successful cases, awards
won by employees, community service events, and information
about employee services.
This new communication tool serves as a way for employees
around the world to stay in touch with each other and to share
the agency’s news and accomplishments.
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Operation Webslinger (2002)
In a first-of-its kind investigation, Operation Webslinger
targeted predatory drugs such as GHB and its derivatives,
GBL and 1,4 Butanediol (1,4 BD), sold over the Internet. This
operation was also groundbreaking because e-mail addresses
and web page communications of Internet drug traffickers
were identified for Title III interceptions. While not the first
time this method of intercept was used, Operation Webslinger
was one of the earliest to use Internet intercepts on a national
and international scale. These Internet intercepts revealed key
information about the traffickers’ operations, including their
sources of supply and the amount of drugs they were selling.
Perhaps most important was these intercepted Internet communications
proved the sites were selling the chemicals not as
the industrial solvent as advertised, but for human consumption—which
is key to prosecuting traffickers under the drug
analog statutes.
In September 2002, DEA successfully concluded this operation
with the eventual arrest of 175 individuals in more than 100
cities across the United States and Canada. Those arrested
were sources of supply, midlevel brokers, and users. DEA and
law enforcement partners dismantled four nationwide distribution
rings of these drugs, which are used both to induce a
high and in the commission of sexual assault. DEA seized
approximately 25 million dosage units of predatory drugs and
more than $1 million in assets. The operation had an immediate
impact on Internet drug sales, with users complaining in chat
rooms they were no longer able to purchase these drugs.
Operation Arctic Heat (2002)
A savvy, flexible drug operation involving Alaskan traffickers
was the target of Operation Arctic Heat. These traffickers
did business all over the United States, including New York
and Los Angeles. In November 2002, DEA Agents arrested
more than 60 individuals and seized more than 160 kilograms
of cocaine, $2 million in cash, and $35,000 in counterfeit money.
Seizures also took place in Anchorage, Cincinnati, Cleveland,
Salt Lake City, Chicago, and Grand Junction. This drug
operation also targeted money laundering and movement of
drug proceeds and worked on an extensive embezzlement
scheme designed to “smurf” money out of the United States
and into the Dominican Republic.
Lebanese Opium and
Marijuana Eradication
Program Resumes (2002)
With urging and support from DEA and other international
drug liaison officers, Lebanon re-engaged their opium poppy
and cannabis eradication initiatives in 2002. In February 2002,