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WASHINGTON — <\/span>The U.S. Justice Department’s internal watchdog on Monday announced a review of a controversial tactic in which federal law enforcement allowed fentanyl to hit the streets to build bigger cases against drug traffickers. <\/p>\n The review will examine government policies and wiretap investigations in which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration may have learned of fentanyl deliveries before they happened but stood down to avoid jeopardizing larger prosecutions. <\/p>\n Current and former agents said that investigative strategy \u2014 known as allowing drugs to \u201cwalk\u201d \u2014 amounts to a gamble with public safety and may have violated Justice Department rules intended to safeguard communities from a synthetic opioid the White House last year designated as a \u201c weapon of mass destruction<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The review comes less than two months after an Associated Press investigation<\/a> found DEA agents repeatedly monitored \u2014 but did not seize \u2014 major fentanyl shipments in New Mexico between 2023 and 2025. It was disclosed in a news release by Justice Department Inspector General Don Berthiaume<\/a>, one of his first official actions since being sworn<\/a> in on Friday.<\/p>\n The DEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. DEA Administrator Terry Cole requested a narrower inspector general inquiry<\/a> following AP\u2019s reporting, including a review of his agency\u2019s handling of a whistleblower complaint brought by Agent David Howell. <\/p>\n Cole wrote in an earlier statement that his request for an outside inquiry \u201cshould not be interpreted as reflecting any lack of confidence in the professionalism or integrity of DEA personnel.\u201d <\/p>\n Howell told AP that federal authorities \u201cpoisoned our community to make cases\u201d in New Mexico. An internal DEA report reviewed by AP detailed how the DEA watched and declined to interdict a fentanyl delivery of 74,000 pills in a mobile home park in Albuquerque. <\/p>\n The fentanyl went unseized amid the deadliest drug epidemic in U.S. history and as DEA led a public awareness campaign \u2014 \u201cOne Pill Can Kill\u201d \u2014 emphasizing that even a few milligrams of the substance can be lethal.<\/p>\n The inspector general said the review will focus on the Justice Department’s actions over the past two years. It could determine whether the DEA permitted similar drug shipments to occur in other cities. <\/p>\n Howell said he expects the review to show federal authorities \u201cendangered the public through willful inaction.\u201d<\/p>\n