LETTER FROM HOUSE GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN DAN BURTON

Here is the text of the letter from House Government Reform Committee
Chairman Dan Burton , R-Ind., to Drug Enforcement Agency chief Donnie Marshall:

Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Committee on Government Reform
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington D.C. 20515-6143
Nov. 1, 2000

The Honorable Donnie Marshall
Administrator
Drug Enforcement Administration
600-700 Army-Navy Drive
Arlington, Va. 22202

Dear Administrator Marshall:

As you are aware, the Committee on Government Reform is conducting an
investigation into Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA") activities related to
James Prince and Rap-A-Lot. When I spoke to you two weeks ago, you assured
me that the Committee would have the complete cooperation of the DEA. On
Monday, October 30, 2000, Committee staff traveled to Houston to interview
several officers from the Houston Police Department ("HPD'') who were
assigned to a joint DEA/HPD task force on the Rap-A-Lot case. These
interviews had been scheduled and arranged the previous week.
Unfortunately, when Committee staff arrived in Houston, they were required
to wait for nearly five hours while a series of telephone calls went back
and forth between the DEA and the HPD. Apparently, the purpose of the
series of calls from the DEA was to prevent the interviews from happening.
As a result of the DEA's efforts, Houston police officers were detained for
an entire day for interviews that should have required no more than two or
three hours.

This is not the type of cooperation that I envisioned after our earlier
conversation. I would appreciate it if you would instruct your staff to
make no further efforts to delay the Committee's inquiries.

For your information, the Committee learned that the entire complement of
narcotics officers from the Houston Police Department who had been invited
to participate in the DEA investigation of Rap-A-Lot and James Prince -
five in number - had their assignments curtailed after working on this case
for an entire year. Furthermore, during the time that these five members of
the Houston Police Department were on the case, numerous arrests and
indictments had been made and all of the officers felt strongly that they
were making headway against a suspected large-scale drug trafficker.

Our interviews on Monday developed the following evidence. All HPD officers
reported that in late September or early October of 1999 that they were
summoned to a meeting at the DEA where they were told by Special Agent in
Charge Ernest Howard that, due to political interference, the case was
closed with the exception of remaining work to be done on the pre-existing
indictments which were already in the court system. Outside of that, no
proactive work was to be done, no leads were to be developed and all work
was to cease. As one Houston police officer told Committee staff on Monday:
"it was a slap in the face to me ....the rug was pulled out from under us."

All officers interviewed stated they were unaware of any activity on this
case after being told to cease work until March 14, 2000, when Special
Agent in Charge Ernest Howard wrote to DEA Headquarters to assure them the
Rap-A-Lot case had been closed. This communication occurred two days after
a visit by Vice President Al Gore to a church affiliated with Rap-A-Lot. At
the time, Mr. Howard communicated by e-mail that "James [Prince] was there
Sunday with the VP at the church. He undoubtedly had a picture session as
well." Furthermore, just after the Vice President's interaction with the
subject of his investigation, Mr. Howard e-mailed a colleague that: "To
eliminate any further difficulty in this manner, I have decided that the
Houston Division will curtail any enforcement action against this subject."

At this stage of the investigation, it is unclear how to interpret Mr.
Howard's comments about the Vice President, or his comments about bowing to
political pressure. Clearly, however, something was very wrong, and I
regret that I was not more skeptical of the DEA's representations about
this matter earlier this year. The facts that have recently come to light
differ from those offered by Mr. Howard when he briefed this Committee.
Thus, we are left with a choice: we either believe Mr. Howard's
contemporaneous explanation that "it's over and we are closing our case on
Prince,'' that "we bow down to the political pressure ...it is over now,"
and the testimony of five Houston police officers who told us that Mr.
Howard informed them in 1999 that politics played a role in the DEA
response to the Prince investigation, or we believe the tortured,
after-the-fact explanations that you and your subordinates are now offering
when you say that the case was never closed. Of course, this choice is
impacted by your still-unexplained decision to prevent the Committee from
interviewing any individuals with knowledge about t his subject.

The Committee is concerned that DEA curtailed a major investigation because
of political pressure. The Committee is also concerned that it may have
been misled by Mr. Howard. Earlier this year, you made Mr. Howard available
to brief this Committee. Now it appears that the Department of Justice is
doing everything in its power to cover-up the history of this
investigation. I find it frustrating - and very sad - that the Justice
Department now argues that we cannot talk to Mr. Howard and others because
there is an ongoing investigation, and yet a few months ago, when Mr.
Howard was going to tell a story that the Justice Department wanted to get
out, Mr. Howard was permitted to come before this Committee. How can I
conclude anything other than you - and the Attorney General - are
practicing political damage control for the current Administration?

We have asked to interview nine DEA officials that were involved in this
matter and have had no answer from your office. Is it your intention to
cooperate with the Committee? Please inform me, in writing, why you are
delaying the interviews until after the Presidential election.

Sincerely,

Dan Burton
Chairman

Cc: Hon. Henry A. Waxman