Michael T. Hurley

Michael T. Hurley was a DEA Country Attache in Nicosia, Cyprus. He had overall responsibility for Euramae Trading Company, Ltd., and its initiative to sell PROMIS software to Middle Eastern countries for drug abuse control. Michael Riconosciuto initially believed Hurley worked for the State Department, but later identified him as the in-country attache for the DEA in Nicosia, Cyprus.¹

Hurley was involved in a NSC-sanctioned drug/sting operation in Lebanon through Euramae Trading Company. This operation involved the flow of heroin to maintain the credibility of intelligence operations. Michael Riconosciuto claimed that the operation became "perverted" at the U.S. end, with controlled heroin shipments being doubled or tripled, and only a third of the heroin being returned to the DEA.¹

Werner Tony Asmar, a DIA intelligence agent, became aware of what was happening with Hurley and the "non-controlled" loads of heroin being shipped back to the United States. Asmar was later killed in a bomb blast, with his cover reportedly "deliberately blown."¹

In 1990, the DEA reassigned Hurley to a DEA intelligence position in Washington State. Lester Coleman found this reassignment suspicious, believing it was done to "manufacture a case" against Michael Riconosciuto and prevent Riconosciuto from becoming a credible witness about the U.S. government's covert sale of the PROMIS software to foreign governments.¹