WASHINGTON, D.C. — Empower Oversight sent a letter to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) asking it to investigate a series of retaliatory personnel actions taken against a third Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) whistleblower in the agency’s Albuquerque District Office, expanding the organization’s work on behalf of agents who spoke out about the DEA fentanyl “walking” controversy in New Mexico.
The complaint says the agent was retaliated against after disclosing his belief that DEA’s failure to seize large fentanyl shipments violated agency and Department of Justice (DOJ) rules, participating in a refusal to obey an order he believed would require violating those rules, disclosing an unsafe operational plan (including one planned near an occupied daycare facility), and being perceived by supervisors to have reported concerns to DEA’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
According to the letter from Empower Oversight president Tristan Leavitt, the agent’s direct supervisor, Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) Jeffrey Armijo, responded to these disclosures with repeated threats and hostility, at one point telling the agent he would “ice you like Dave [Howell]” so that he would “not work another case again,” an apparent reference to DEA whistleblower Special Agent David Howell, whom Empower Oversight also represents.
The letter documents more than a year of alleged retaliation, including:
- Repeated threats to remove the agent from the SRT, transfer him to another office, and force him out of DEA entirely;
- Denial of a slot at DEA tactical instructor school and opposition to approving his SRT-related travel compensation;
- An involuntary transfer out of his group, which stripped him of operational responsibilities he had built up;
- Exclusion from a high-profile Washington, D.C., surge operation until senior DEA leadership intervened, followed by extra casework assigned to him while other participating agents were not held to the same standard;
- New administrative burdens not imposed on other agents, including being required to prove his whereabouts during approved surveillance and to complete Reports of Investigation on same-day deadlines rather than the 10 days allowed under DEA policy;
- Office-wide schedule and pay-policy changes that colleagues said were retaliatory and directed at him specifically; and
- Failure by supervisors to relay a call from DEA Deputy Administrator Daniel Salter congratulating the agent on a major fentanyl seizure.
The complaint follows June 2026 reporting by the Associated Press and the Albuquerque Journal on DEA’s handling of large fentanyl shipments in Albuquerque, and comes amid Empower Oversight’s broader effort to secure whistleblower protections for DEA personnel and contractors who have raised concerns about the matter. Empower Oversight has also asked for an investigation into the retaliation suffered by Kevin Small, 31-year veteran of the DEA who had retired and was working in the Albuquerque District Office as a Senior Financial Investigator.
To see the 2019 fentanyl protocols, click here.
To see the 2024 fentanyl protocols, click here.
To see the May 12, 2026, letter to the DOJ OIG, click here.
To see the May 12, 2026, letter to Congress, click here.
To see the June 5, 2026, letter to Acting DOJ Deputy Attorney General, click here.
To see the July 15, 2026, letter to DOJ OIG on new information regarding Howell, click here.
To see the July 15, 2026, letter to DOJ OIG on Kevin Small retaliation, click here.
To see the August 3, 2026, letter to OSC on agent retaliation, click here.
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