![Justice Department watchdog investigating $854K in payments to Amtrak secretary](https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZWJsYXplLmNvbS93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAxNC8wOC82MDB4Mzk2MTMuanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc1MDYwMzk5Nn0.IFsa78Z3cb-kABkY8grCVqrk-i004UWu5-YsdXBPZH0/image.jpg?width=980&quality=85)
FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2014, file photo, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, left, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee appears at a hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Drug Enforcement Administration paid an Amtrak secretary $854,460 over nearly 20 years to obtain confidential information about train passengers, which the DEA could have lawfully obtained for free through a law enforcement network, The Associated Press has learned. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the $854,460 an unnecessary expense and asked for further information about the incident in a letter he released Monday to DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File