ation protocols  developed during President Donald Trump's first term. The protocols, Comer said, should have prevented the fentanyl from hitting the streets in such large numbers.

The earlier policy, adopted in 2017, called on agents to  seize or otherwise prevent the distribution  of fentanyl  as soon as practicable.  The department rewrote those rules in 2024 to afford law enforcement far more discretion in whether to take action to prevent fentanyl trafficking, citing  the benefits to be achieved through preserving the investigation. 

AP reporting found the investigative strategy - known as allowing drugs to  walk  - continued into Trump's second administration during the run-up to the largest fentanyl bust in DEA history, a takedown announced in May 2025 by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi.

As part of that investigation, authorities seized some 3 million fentanyl pills. But even larger quantities went unseized as agents in Albuquerque stood by and watched as drug couriers entered hotels with backpacks believed to be carrying as many as 100,000 fentanyl pills.

The entire network could have been dismantled six months earlier, according to a former DEA supervisor who worked on the case and is now among three whistleblowers sounding the alarm about the longstanding practice.

The Justice Department's internal watchdog this month announced a nationwide review of government policies and wiretap investigations to determine whether federal authorities have used the same tactic elsewhere.

 Our investigations are long term and they are complex and they are done under the guidance of the law,  DEA Administrator Terry Cole said in an interview this month with Fox News welcoming the inspector general's review.  We will continue to do that, but we need to stay 100% focused on the adversary. 

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Mustian reported from New York.