A 23-year veteran of the Drug Enforcement Agency has filed a class action law suit in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. charging agents of the CIA, NSA and State Department with conducting electronic eavesdropping and surveillance against him and other DEA operatives. PNS associate editor Dennis Bernstein, an award winning investigative reporter who produces an daily investigative news program for public radio, reports on the suit.  

A Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent has filed a federal class action suit against the CIA, the National Security Agency and the State Department for unlawfully spying on him and other unnamed DEA employees and their families.  

 The lawsuit, filed Sept. 12 in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., claims the illegal electronic surveillance and eavesdropping of DEA agents has been going on all over the world and has subverted crucial drug enforcement activities by undermining the ability of DEA agents to trust other officials of the U.S. government.  

 Richard Horn, a 23-year veteran of the DEA who currently serves as a group supervisor in field division in New Orleans, La., is the only agent named in the unprecedented class action suit. In 1994, Horn had filed a lawsuit charging the former U.S. Charge d' Affairs for Burma and Burma CIA Chief of Station with violating his civil rights by spying on him during his tour of duty in Rangoon, Burma. The defendants in that suit have successfully sought delays claiming, in part, that the suit threatens national security interests.  

 Last April, Horn's attorney, Brian C. Leighton, a respected organized crime prosecutor and former assistant U.S. Attorney based in Fresno, Calif., sent a letter of inquiry to all DEA personnel around the world requesting information about "illegal intercepts committed by our own government." He also requested information "about any other crimes (smuggling, black market money exchanges, suspicious business transactions, thefts, etc.), examples of moral turpitude or other improprieties committed by State Department employees and other members of the intelligence community."  

 Leighton says that Horn became frustrated when his case was going nowhere, despite the fact that "a ton of Congressmen and Senators were alerted, requesting an investigation into the illegal wire-tapping," and repeated complaints to the director of the DEA.  

 The responses to the April letter of inquiry, however, not only provided multiple confirmations of Horn's charges but prompted Horn to file the new class action suit "on behalf of all current and future DEA personnel."  

 "Horn learned from other DEA agents and employees about other instances in the past," Leighton says. But to prevent retribution against agents who have come forth in response to the letter, Horn is the only named agent. The suit, moreover, outlines a number of examples of the illegal surveillance but only in general terms.  

 Much more detail is known by the named Plaintiff," the suit alleges and has been described by him to appropriate government officials. But it is not being revealed because of government threats to criminally prosecute Horn should he divulge classified information.  

 Horn, 49, served in Burma in 1992 and 1993. To date Horn has refrained from giving interviews to the news media about his case.  

 One former DEA agent with 15 years of field experience in South America, who received Leighton's letter of inquiry, says he believes Horn's claim is right. "I know it right to my soul that I was bugged," the agent, who asked to remain anonymous, said in a telephone interview. "I'm a very trained operative, and I would say things intentionally on the phone to see if I was bugged, and it would come back to me from people in Central Intelligence. They were so brazen, Central Intelligence felt they could get away with murder and I'm sure they did."  

 The class action law suit names as defendants Secretary of State Warren Christopher, CIA Chief John Deutch and NSA Administration Admiral J.M. McConnell. It asks the agency heads to order their respective employees to "cease and desist" from employing electronic eavesdropping and surveillance against "DEA foreign post class Plaintiffs."  

 CIA Public Affairs Officer Dave Christian, asked about the suit, said, "It's not a part of the CIA's mission to do anything like that (wiretap DEA agents in Country) and we don't." The NSA deferred all questions regarding the suit to the Justice Department which had "no comment" on the allegations. The State Department failed to return repeated phone calls.