Federal agencies paid out at least $548 million to informants working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in recent years, according to government audits.
The FBI paid approximately $294 million, the DEA paid at least $237 million, and ATF paid approximately $17.2 million total to informants.
The ATF employed 1,855 informants who were paid $4.3 million annually.
High-earning informants included an "Airline employee who received more than $600,000 in less than four-years, and a parcel employee who received over $1 million in five-years." The Inspector General at Justice who scrutinized DEA informants reported the findings.
While certain informants were becoming federally-minted millionaires, the average DEA informant made much less - approximately $26,333 over a recent five-year period.
"Since 1980, the Guidelines have permitted agencies to authorize informants to engage in activities that would otherwise constitute crimes under federal, state, or local law if someone without such authorization engaged in these same activities. For example, in the appropriate circumstance, an agency could authorize an informant to purchase illegal drugs from someone who is the target of a drug-trafficking investigation. Such conduct is termed"otherwise illegal activity.
In September, the New York Times reported a bit of a bombshell: at least two informants embedded with the U.S. Capitol crowd were in close contact with their FBI handlers on January 6th. As reporter Julie Kelly at American Greatness details it, an "informant, according to 'confidential documents' furnished to the paper, started working with the FBI in July 2020 and was in close contact with his FBI handler before, during, and after the Capitol protest.
Sunday, November 28, 2021
FBI And Other Agencies Paid Informants $548 Million In Recent Years With Many Committing Authorized Crimes
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