DOJ Inspector General Opens Formal Review of DEA's Fentanyl 'Walking' Tactic, Third Whistleblower Comes Forward

Since the Associated Press first reported in June that DEA agents in New Mexico repeatedly monitored fentanyl shipments without seizing them, the story has escalated fast: a new Justice Department Inspector General took office, immediately opened a formal review, and a third whistleblower has now come forward with fresh allegations.

Justice Department Inspector General Don Berthiaume announced Monday that his office will review the DEA tactic known internally as letting drugs "walk" — a strategy where agents allegedly knew about incoming fentanyl shipments and chose not to intercept them in order to build bigger trafficking cases, according to the Associated Press. Berthiaume was sworn in Friday. This review is one of his first official acts.

The review will look at DOJ policies and wiretap investigations over the past two years, according to AP, and could determine whether the same practice played out in other cities beyond Albuquerque.

A third whistleblower, and a damning quote

The Daily Signal reported that a third whistleblower, a DEA special agent whose name is redacted in a 20-page complaint, has alleged a specific November 2022 case: a courier ran fentanyl from Arizona to New Mexico, and agents were told to watch, not arrest. The complaint says agents believe the courier made at least five runs over subsequent months, each carrying 50,000 to 100,000 fentanyl pills and 20 to 40 pounds of methamphetamine. He wasn't arrested until June 2023, at which point agents found him carrying 19 kilograms of methamphetamine and 7 kilograms of fentanyl, according to the complaint.

The same complaint quotes a DEA agent during a training session flatly stating, "We walk fentanyl," while adding that federal prosecutors were aware of the practice, per the Daily Signal.

Two earlier whistleblowers have also come forward: former DEA Special Agent David Howell, interviewed Friday, and Kevin Small, a financial investigator who contracted with DEA's Albuquerque office, interviewed Monday, according to the Daily Signal. Both allege retaliation from Jeffrey Armijo, the assistant special agent in charge of DEA's Albuquerque office, including a March 2025 conversation in which Armijo allegedly screamed, "This is a one way conversation and this stays within my office."

The scale of what got through

An internal DEA report reviewed by AP detailed one delivery of 74,000 fentanyl pills in an Albuquerque mobile home park that agents watched and declined to seize. Ground News, aggregating coverage, put the total higher: whistleblowers allege agents failed to seize up to 350,000 fentanyl pills tied to a 2024 wiretap investigation alone.

The DEA's own numbers on lethality make the scale significant. As few as 2 milligrams of fentanyl can kill depending on body size and tolerance, according to the DEA, and a single kilogram has the potential to kill 500,000 people, per figures cited by the Daily Signal. All of this happened while DEA ran its own "One Pill Can Kill" public awareness campaign, and while the White House designated fentanyl a "weapon of mass destruction" last year.

DEA and prosecutors defend the tactic

DEA Administrator Terry Cole requested his own narrower inspector general inquiry after AP's original reporting, specifically into how the agency handled Howell's whistleblower complaint. Cole said the request "should not be interpreted as reflecting any lack of confidence in the professionalism or integrity of DEA personnel," according to AP.

Former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Alex Uballez, who oversaw the operation, has defended it publicly. He told AP the strategy saved lives, was central to intelligence-gathering on trafficking networks, and that "the bigger fish are worth catching." Law enforcement routinely trades short-term risk for long-term takedowns of larger networks, and letting a shipment through to identify suppliers and financiers is a recognized, if controversial, investigative tool.

Howell rejects that framing entirely. He told AP that federal authorities "poisoned our community to make cases" and said he expects the Inspector General's review to conclude that authorities "endangered the public through willful inaction."

New Mexico digs in

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, a Democrat, is running a parallel state investigation into whether DEA agents violated state law. Torrez has threatened to sue the Justice Department after it refused to hand over a list of records he requested, according to AP and the San Diego Union-Tribune. He wrote that New Mexico is "bearing the societal and financial harms of an influx of fentanyl into its communities."

The DEA has also refused to let Howell be interviewed by state authorities, according to AP's reporting, which Torrez's office has cited as evidence the federal government is stonewalling a state-level probe into conduct that happened on New Mexico soil.

No charges have been filed against any DEA official, and no findings have been announced. The Inspector General's review is just getting underway, and Berthiaume's office has not set a timeline for completion. The unresolved question sitting at the center of all four whistleblower accounts: whether prosecutors and DEA supervisors calculated that pills reaching the street was an acceptable cost for building bigger cases, and whether anyone signed off on that calculation in writing.