The Drug Enforcement Administration chief requested an investigation into a Biden administration operation that allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to flood New Mexico. In a letter Thursday to Justice Department Assistant Inspector General M. Sean O’Neill, DEA Administrator Terry Cole requested a probe to assess how DEA supervisors responded to a whistleblower complaint by Special Agent David Howell, who first reported to supervisors and Justice Department officials that the agency was allowing fentanyl into New Mexico. Starting during the Biden administration, the DEA allowed allowed the shipments of drugs into the United States because Justice Department prosecutors wanted to build a larger criminal case against traffickers, the Associated Press first reported. Cole, in his letter, also asked whether the DEA’s tracking of fentanyl, rather than seizures, was conducted in accordance with applicable Justice Department and agency guidelines. DEA-OIG MemoDownload “The alleged conduct occurred under the Biden administration’s disastrous open border policies,” a Justice Department spokesperson told the Daily Signal in an email. “The Trump administration has closed the border and is aggressively pursuing drug traffickers. DEA Administrator Cole has requested an independent DOJ-OIG review of DEA’s actions in light of this reporting to reaffirm the public’s confidence in our law enforcement agencies. Should that review identify areas of improvement, the DEA will of course implement changes to better their practices.” The operation allowed drug shipments to pass through the U.S.-Mexico border for the purpose of gathering intelligence. The operation primarily affected the Albuquerque area. The drug shipments included a single load of 74,000 fentanyl pills that was delivered to a mobile home park in Albuquerque, under the DEA’s oversight. The DEA chief’s request for an investigation marks a seeming departure from the agency’s initial response to the allegations earlier this week, when a DEA spokesperson said, “Public descriptions suggesting that DEA knowingly permitted fentanyl to reach communities are false and fundamentally mischaracterize the facts.” Tristan Leavitt, president of Empower Oversight, a whistleblower advocacy group that is representing Howell, said he is encouraged by the call for an investigation but added the Justice Department can act now. “It’s encouraging to see the DEA administrator calling for an inspector general investigation,” Leavitt told the Daily Signal. “Embracing independent oversight is smarter than circling the wagons to defend disastrous decisions pushed by the Biden U.S. Attorney’s Office before he led the agency,” Leavitt continued. “But IG investigations take time, so the Justice Department shouldn’t wait for that report before fixing the fentanyl wiretap protocols that the Biden DOJ gutted.” Former U.S. attorney Alex Uballez, who was appointed by President Joe Biden and who oversaw the program, told The Associated Press it was justified for intelligence gathering and added, “The bigger fish are worth catching.” The Associated Press reported the program began in 2023 and ended in 2025. In a statement posted on the DEA website, Cole said the allegations should be determined by an independent investigation, “not debated through speculation or incomplete information.” He added, “This request should not be interpreted as a lack of confidence in the men and women of DEA.” “If the review confirms that DEA personnel acted appropriately, it will provide an independent assessment that reinforces confidence in the professionalism of this agency and its workforce,” Cole said. “If improvements are identified, DEA will implement them. Strong institutions are sustained—not diminished—by objective oversight and a willingness to continuously assess and improve.” Inspectors general have a quasi-independent oversight role within federal departments, but with limitations, lacking the power to issue subpoenas and prosecute cases. On the state front, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked the state’s attorney general, Raúl Torrez, to open a criminal investigation into federal agents or other federal officials who were involved in allowing the fentanyl to come into the state. The DEA operation is reminiscent of a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program under President Barack Obama’s administration dubbed “Operation Fast and Furious,” which allowed illegal guns to flow from the United States into Mexico for the purpose of tracking them to build a case against drug cartels. However, the government lost track of some of the guns, one of which was used in the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.