DEA USES WAR DUTY TO PUNISH, AGENTS CHARGE

WASHINGTON - As the Obama administration ramps up the Drug
Enforcement Administration's presence in Afghanistan, some
special-agent pilots contend that they're being illegally forced to
go to a combat zone.

In interviews with McClatchy, more than a dozen DEA agents describe a
system in which some pilots have been sent to Afghanistan under
duress or as punishment for bucking their superiors.

Such complaints, mostly arising from the DEA's Aviation Division,
could complicate the Obama administration's efforts to send dozens of
additional DEA agents to Afghanistan as part of a civilian and
military personnel surge.

Veteran DEA pilot Daniel Offield has alleged in an employment
discrimination complaint that he was told that if he refuses to go to
Afghanistan in July he'll be demoted. The Stockton agent asked for a
reprieve because he was in the process of adopting two special-needs
children, and offered to serve his required temporary duty in other countries.

Another agent, David Beavers, told McClatchy that he was ordered in
July 2007 to prepare to go to Afghanistan in two weeks while he was
on bereavement leave after his mother-in-law died. To avoid going,
the Orlando, Fla., pilot decided to retire early.

Both men have flown for the DEA in Latin American countries racked by
drug violence, but they say service in a combat zone should be
treated as voluntary because they're not military personnel. "You
could say that the war on drugs is dangerous," said Beavers, a DEA
pilot for more than 20 years. "But it's not quite like Afghanistan,
where you can get your legs blown off by an (improvised explosive device)."

Agents said supervisors told them that working in dangerous countries
is part of their job, but Offield's Sacramento-based lawyer said such
compulsory duty violates a 2008 federal law that requires civilian
personnel to serve voluntarily. "The DEA is not only violating the
law," said attorney Richard Margarita, a former DEA agent and county
prosecutor. "They could very well be sending Dan Offield to his death."

DEA officials with the Aviation Division referred questions about the
Afghanistan assignments to agency headquarters. Garrison Courtney, a
DEA spokesman who responded to written questions, said that agents
aren't being demoted, because even if they lose their pilot position,
their salary stays the same.

Courtney said pilots "are expected to support DEA's global mission"
and that the Aviation Division "does not have the luxury" of allowing
them to pick where they fly because many of the more than 100 pilots
don't have the experience to fly in Afghanistan.

He said if pilots don't want to go, they have the option to transfer
back to an enforcement division and conduct domestic drug enforcement
investigations. Courtney noted that DEA missions in Peru and Columbia
pose challenges similar to Afghanistan's because of the countries'
mountainous terrain.

More than a dozen agents told McClatchy that the experiences of the
two pilots aren't isolated and have continued over the past several
years. The other agents asked to remain anonymous, saying they fear
retaliation from the DEA.

"There are number of guys who say 'I don't want to go,' but they suck
it up and go," one agent said. "What's going to happen is somebody at
some point is going to get killed."

One official e-mail sent in 2007 demonstrates the pressure placed on
agents to accept their assignments, warning agents that "it is not
if, but when" that they'll go to Afghanistan. The e-mail noted: "It
is cold and miserable in the winter" in Afghanistan and added that
pilots who volunteer might be able to choose what time of year they'll go.

DEA agents said the decision to force some of their peers to go to
Afghanistan doesn't appear related to a lack of qualified volunteers.
One agent said he'd volunteered to go to Afghanistan and went through
the required training. His superiors, however, denied his request
without explanation.

The agent said he knows plenty of others who are willing to go. "With
some people, if you want to go, they won't send you," he said. "They
use Afghanistan as punishment for agents they don't like."

Offield, a 25-year DEA veteran who oversees marijuana eradication in
California's national forests, alleges in his complaint that the
agency's decision to send him to Afghanistan is part of a larger
pattern of harassment based on his age and sexual orientation. He
responded to McClatchy's questions through his attorney out of
concern that he'd be punished for going outside the chain of command.

Offield, 47, alleges the harassment began soon after he told a
colleague he's gay, although he said he generally has chosen not to
discuss his sexual orientation with colleagues.

The retaliation, he said, became worse after he appeared on an MSNBC
news program, where he told reporters that he didn't think the DEA
was winning the battle against California's marijuana cultivators.

Although he got clearance to appear on the show, Offield said his
comments hardened the resolve of his superiors to punish him. About a
month later, he was told he was going to Afghanistan.

Courtney said the DEA didn't discriminate against Offield and said
officials have offered to transfer him back to a street agent job
that would allow him to work closer to his home.