"But they're going to have to pay for it, as well."- William Brown, the special agent in charge of the DEA's aviation division, on why the DEA spent $123,000.00 to charter a private plane for the DEA chief for travel to Colombia last year, and whether it would have been more cost-effective to borrow a plane from another agency.
The excursion is catching quite a bit of heat these days, and it isn't pleasing everyone:
Government watchdogs, however, question whether the trip could have been rescheduled or whether Leonhart could've taken a commercial flight.
Steve Ellis, the vice president of the nonprofit group Taxpayers for Common Sense, said that although the flight consumed a small fraction of the DEA's budget, the charter raised a red flag, especially because the agency paid an outside company to arrange it.
"It looks bad," Ellis said. "Clearly, the DEA or any federal agency should be watching their budgets more closely in these difficult times."
Read the whole thing here.
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Ahoy!