(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Drug Enforcement Administration special agent David Howell has given his first televised interviews since he went public as a whistleblower to expose the DEA’s policy of allowing hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to hit the streets of New Mexico between 2023 and May 2025.
Howell’s disclosures were first reported by the Associated Press in June, when the AP reported that DEA agents repeatedly monitored shipments of fentanyl pills — but did not seize them — as federal prosecutors sought to bring bigger criminal cases against traffickers. The DEA policy described by Howell was reminiscent of the Obama-era ATF’s Operation Fast & Furious, where agents allowed illegal gun sales under the auspices of tracking firearms to organized crime.
DEA whistleblower David Howell says he was reprimanded for seizing fentanyl from a vehicle that had a child in it.
In another case, his supervisors had him stand down while a shipment of fentanyl was unloaded at an apartment–where some 74,000 pills were sold later that night.… pic.twitter.com/XtJQLI4vez— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) November 2, 2026
“We poisoned our community to make cases,” DEA Special Agent David Howell told the AP at the time. “Through our own willful blindness, we get to say, ‘We don’t really know what happened to the drugs.’ But we 100% got people killed.”
In an interview with local Albuquerque outlet KOB 4 that aired last week, Howell provided more details.
One time, he said that he and his partner stopped a vehicle based on info they intercepted in April 2023. The vehicle had a child in it, as well as a loaded handgun and fentanyl—the latter two items of which they seized.
Howell said he and his partner were scolded for their actions.
“We were told, like, ‘Why did you do that?’” he said.
In another case, his supervisors had him stand down while a shipment of fentanyl was unloaded at an apartment–where some 74,000 pills were sold later that night.
“I took photographs of this person arriving to the apartment, and then they just watched her unload the vehicle,” Howell said. “That’s what we did. We watched them unload the drugs.”
The DOJ Inspector General’s Office is investigating Howell’s claims. KOB 4 reported that two other whistleblowers have emerged to join Howell, who has also given an interview to CBS News.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
