Deep Cover

The books tell the sad inside story on the war on drugs. It's well written, interesting and reads like a good criminal fiction, but it's unfortunately a true story. If you like reading criminal fiction, read this book. If you're interested in politics, it's a must.

I am a retired DEA Field Division SAC. Levine's book, like his radio program, is objective and doesn't pull any punches. The lack of cooperation between organizations is well-known to anyone inside and Levine describes this infighting with brutal candor. The cost to Americans who expect more of their government is painfully high. Well-researched and documented.

Fact: The U.S. government traffics narcotics, and also lets drug-dealing nations and cartels go unmolested, if it is the politically expedient thing to do. Yet at the same time, the Federal government was at the time of writing, and still is today, waging a "War on Drugs." As most knowledgeable Americans are now aware, this was a facade, and much more distressing, an act of hypocrisy. The so-called War on Drugs has allowed the U.S. government to further erode citizens' rights, unjustly seize property, and further establish a 1984ish "Big Brother," America. This book should be read.Author Michael Levine noted many interesting insights into the D.E.A., how it functions, and how this bureaucratic machine plays role in relation to foreign policy, and the political pressures that guide and influence this agency. Levine was considered to be the D.E.A's number one undercover agent, having arrested over 3,000 individuals over twenty-five years. Seeking truth, and having passion for his career, and strongly believing in the mission statement of the Drug Enforcement Agency, He wrote in a very direct manner which I appreciate. What he observed in the agency was contrary to his life's work, and he had the courage and drive to speak out about it. In certain instances, the more a D.E.A. agent penetrated into serious drug operations, the more anxious and admonishing the bureaucratic "suits" who ran the agency in Washington D.C. became.When he and the agency came to close to nailing major drug kingpins, some with high political status in some South American nations, the agency basically shut the operation down. Some of the Cold War alliances the U.S. had with nation-states were similar to it's relations/alliances to drug-dealing countries and cartel kingpins. The Cold War made strange bedfellows politically and this transgressed into the War on drugs.The most appropriate thing to do is prosecute United States political figures, Military, D.E.A., and C.I.A. bureaucrats for trafficking and conspiring to traffic narcotics. Of course we all know, that isn't going to happen. Yet we must fill our prisons with nonviolent, small-time working stiffs, casual drug users, to serve out mandatory minimum sentences.

Fact: The U.S. government traffics narcotics, and also lets drug-dealing nations and cartels go unmolested, if it is the politically expedient thing to do. Yet at the same time, the Federal government was at the time of writing, and still is today, waging a "War on Drugs." As most knowledgeable Americans are now aware, this was a facade, and much more distressing, an act of hypocrisy. The so-called War on Drugs has allowed the U.S. government to further erode citizens rights, unjustly seize property, and further establish a 1984ish "Big Brother," America. This book should be read.Author Michael Levine noted many interesting insights into the D.E.A., and how it functions, it's role in relation to foreign policy, and the political pressures that guide and influence this agency. Levine was considered to be the D.E.A's number one undercover agent, having arrested over 3,000 individuals over twenty-five years. Having passion for his career and strongly believing in the mission statement of the Drug Enforcement Agency, He wrote in a very direct manner which I appreciate. What he observed in the agency was contrary to his life's work, and he had the courage and drive to speak out about it. In certain instances, the more a D.E.A. agent penetrated into serious drug operations, the more anxious and admonishing the bureaucratic "suits" who ran the agency in Washington D.C. became.When he and the agency came to close to nailing major drug kingpins, some with high political status, in some South American nations, the agency basically shut the operation down. Some of the Cold War alliances the U.S. had with nation-states were similar to it's relations/alliances to drug-dealing countries and cartel kingpins. The Cold War made strange bedfellows politically and this transgressed into the War on drugs.The most appropriate thing to do is prosecute United States political figures, Military, D.E.A., and C.I.A. bureaucrats for trafficking and conspiring to traffic narcotics. Of course we all know, that isn't going to happen. Yet we must fill our prisons with nonviolent, small-time working stiffs, casual drug users, to serve out mandatory minimum sentences. Who killed more people? Timothy McVeigh, or the D.E.A and Federal government? I respect the former much more than the latter.

Deep Cover, by Michael Levine, is a true account of an actual international drug sting operation. Michael recounts the operation from an ordinary start, a nail-biter of an ascent, to a frightening climax. So engrossing is this chapter of Michael's work, I read it in one sitting on a trans-atlantic flight. I was left with stunned admiration for this point-man in the war on drugs. I'm glad he is on our side.