FEDERAL DRUG ADMINISTRATION INVESTIGATES FORMER ST. LOUIS AGENT

St. Louis (AP) -- an investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration is targeting a former St. Louis agent, who is accused of
lying for 15 years in trial testimony.

As many as two dozen of the agents who worked with Andrew Chambers in St.
Louis and elsewhere are being investigated in a possible cover-up, the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch wrote in a copyrighted story Sunday.

DEA officials want to know if anyone knew that Chambers was lying in
testimony that he had never been arrested or convicted.

Agents could face discipline -- and in some cases criminal prosecution --
if they assisted in a cover up, said Richard A. Fiano, the DEA's chief of
operations.

Fiano promises that if mistakes are found, they will be punished. "It can't
be a win-at-all costs (attitude) on this side of the fence," he said in an
interview at DEA headquarters outside Washington.

He and other senior DEA officials insist that they didn't know about
Chambers' well-documented lies until august. But the agency's own records
show that the DEA chief counsel's office knew no later than may of last year.

That is when it sent a memo to field agents, warning that Chambers'
credibility "has been thoroughly impeached." It cited court rulings
critical of Chambers dating to 1993.