DEA bought millions in cell phone trackers and training, payment data shows

Agency refuses to release acquisition docs despite extensive online checkbook entries - including make and model for specific field offices

Over the past ten years, the Drug Enforcement Administration has spent millions of dollars on cell phone tracking. Federal purchasing documents that are already posted online indicate the make and model of the tracking device, and often even the DEA field office that bought it.

Simple searches on the Federal Procurement Data System reveal more than $5 million that the DEA paid Harris Corporation since 2005 for cell phone trackers and training sessions. The DEA bought a range of surveillance devices from the StingRay line, and as well as numerous device upgrades.

This information is already publicly posted online for anyone to review. But, even after conducting a physical count in response to one request, the DEA insists that it cannot release acquisition documents for its cell phone trackers. Just like the FBI, the DEA continues to withhold the most basic information about surveillance equipment everyone knows they use.