Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson: on Drugs

DEA has no meaningful performance goals on illegal drugs

The GAO has reported on a number of performance and management problems at the Justice Department. One overriding problem is that DOJ does a poor job of explaining what is it trying to accomplish and what it actually is accomplishing with the tax dollars entrusted to it. GAO could not determine what Justice achieved because of DOJ’s lack of meaningful performance measures.

For example, the Drug Enforcement Administration is the federal agency primarily responsible for combating illegal drugs, which cost our society about $100 billion annually. To help it do this job, Congress substantially increased the agency’s funding and staff. The DEA’s budget (over $1.5 billion for 2000) has more than doubled since 1993. However, DEA has not developed meaningful goals and measures that can be used to judge its performance and hold it accountable. Therefore, there is no way of knowing whether the agency, with all its staff and funding, has made any difference in reducing the entry of illegal drugs.

Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.2, p. 69 Jun 3, 2001

The above quotations are from Government at the Brink: The Root Causes of Government Waste and Mismanagement, by Fred Thompson. Click here for definitions & background information on Drugs. Click here for other issues (main summary page). Click here for more quotes by Fred Thompson on Drugs.
*Candidates and political leaders on Drugs:*
*Incoming Obama Administration:* Pres.:Sen.Barack Obama V.P.:Sen.Joe Biden State:Hillary Clinton Staff:Rahm Emanuel Treas.:Tim Geithner DoD:Robert Gates A.G.:Eric Holder DHS:Janet Napolitano DoC:Bill Richardson	*Outgoing Bush Administration:* Pres.:George Bush V.P.:Dick Cheney A.G.:John Ashcroft(2005) DEA:Asa Hutchinson(2005) USDA:Mike Johanns(2007) EPA:Mike Leavitt HUD:Mel Martinez(2003) State:Colin Powell(2005) State:Condoleezza Rice HHS:Tommy Thompson(2005)	*2008 Presidential contenders:* AIP: Frank McEnulty Constitution: Chuck Baldwin GOP: Sen.John McCain GOP VP: Gov.Sarah Palin Green: Rep.Cynthia McKinney Independent: Ralph Nader Liberation: Gloria La Riva Libertarian: Rep.Bob Barr NAIP: Amb.Alan Keyes Socialist: Brian Moore
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