Inspector General Don Berthiaume sworn in on Friday
Justice Department Inspector General Don Berthiaume on Monday opened a formal review of a Drug Enforcement Administration tactic in which federal law enforcement agents allowed fentanyl shipments to reach the streets in order to build larger cases against drug traffickers.
The Associated Press reported that Berthiaume disclosed the review in a news release. The announcement was one of his first official actions since being sworn in on Friday.
The review will examine government policies and wiretap investigations in which the DEA may have learned of fentanyl deliveries before they occurred but chose to stand down, according to the AP.
The agents who stood down did so to avoid jeopardizing larger prosecutions, the AP reported. The strategy of allowing drug shipments to reach the streets while pursuing higher-level targets is known in federal law enforcement as “walking” drugs.
Current and former agents told the AP that the approach amounts to a gamble with public safety. The agents said the tactic may have violated Justice Department rules intended to safeguard communities from a synthetic opioid.
The White House last year designated fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction.”
The inspector general’s review comes less than two months after an AP investigation that found DEA agents repeatedly monitored — but did not seize — major fentanyl shipments in New Mexico between 2023 and 2025.