Kenneth Moore/fbi photo

Kenneth L. Moore has been appointed special agent in charge of the FBI’s Knoxville Division, the FBI announced in a press release. Moore has served as chief inspector in the FBI’s Inspection Division at FBI Headquarters since April 2011.

Moore’s career began in 1987 in Little Rock. He later went on to fill posts in Detroit, Memphis, and Jackson, focusing on civil rights cases as well as white-collar crimes and drug trafficking, and ultimately counterterroris, including serving as on-scene commander for FBI operations in Afghanistan, where he was responsible for all deployed FBI personnel and assets.

Moore was promoted into the FBI’s Senior Executive Service as an inspector in the Office of Inspections in 2009, leading to his most recent post as chief inspector.

He replaces Richard Lambert, who retired in March. Lambert once headed the FBI probe into the anthrax attacks.

Sen. Grassley/official photo

Could the DEA be doing more harm than good with its efforts to curb prescription drug abuse?

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island are asking the Government Accountability Office to study how the DEA’s crackdowns on controlled substances may be creating shortages of vital prescription meds for doctors in the field.

Grassley says in his office’s press release, “More and more, emergency medical technicians report shortages of medicines they need in the field.”

“Patients need access to the right treatment at the right time,” Whitehouse added, “and we need to balance the DEA’s mission to fight prescription drug abuse against patients’ need for proper care.”

The DEA sets controlled substance quotas, and in effect, production limits, for drug companies. Since the drug shortage crisis developed, controlled substances are frequently on the FDA drug shortage list. While the shortage creates crisis for emergency care workers and their patients, recent studies indicate prescription drug abuse continues to rise.

Read Grassley’s press release here.

Shoshanna Utchenik

Sometimes being a ‘friend of Israel’ means sharing criminals.

Three Israeli mobsters were extradited to the U.S. in January 2011 in the first extradition of its kind under Israel’s racketeering law, which parallels RICO, the U.S. law targeting organized crime. Two of the three pled guilty to a host of drug and murder charges in U.S. District court, the U.S. Attorney’s office announced in a press release Monday.

Charges against Itzhak Abergil, Israel Ozifa and friends filled a 77-page grand jury indictment in California in 2008. The investigation by the DEA and ICE, in cooperation with the FBI, IRS and LA Police, uncovered crimes including the importing of the club drug ecstasy from Belgium to California and  ordering the murder of Sami Atias execution-style for interfering with a 2003 drug deal.

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• Secret Service Agents Are Not Polygraphed (News Max)
• 5 Plead Not Guilty in Alleged Bridge Bomb Plot (CBS News)
• Brutal: J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building Declared World’s Ugliest Building Worth Visiting (DCist)
• Clemens trial: A little more about the FBI’s John Longmire (NY Daily News)
• Ex-FBI Agent: Priest’s Accuser Told Truth (Philly.com)