By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
A DEA agent who was shot in the head last week in Afghanistan during a mission remains hospitalized in suburban D.C., but is expected to survive, according to someone familiar with the situation.
Special agent Joe Piersante, a member of the Fast Team (Foreign Advisory Support Team), was seriously wounded in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
An internal memo from DEA Director Michele Leonhart said Piersante, working with “our International Security and Assistance Forces (ISAF) and Afghan law enforcement partners, FAST had just successfully executed a search warrant and were headed to their helicopter when they came under fire.”
He underwent extensive surgery after the shooting.
“Please keep Joe and all of his loved ones in your thoughts and prayers,” Leonhart wrote.
