Confidential Informants: Status of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Efforts to Address a GAO Recommendation

What GAO Found

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), an agency within the Department of Justice, has updated its confidential informant policy and corresponding monitoring processes to address provisions in The Attorney General’s Guidelines Regarding the Use of Confidential Informants regarding oversight of informants’ illegal activities. Thus, GAO considers its recommendation from September 2015—see GAO-15-807—to be closed as implemented.

Why GAO Did This Study

GAO was asked to report on the status of a recommendation it made in September 2015 to support congressional oversight at a hearing sponsored by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. This report provides GAO’s assessment of DEA’s actions taken in response to the recommendation.

GAO reviewed DEA’s updated confidential informant policy and internal inspection checklists and met with DEA officials to assess the extent to which DEA’s actions were consistent with GAO’s recommendation.