ACCESSION 
NUMBER:338939

FILE ID:LEF421

DATE:04/14/94

TITLE:PENTAGON TO FOCUS ANTIDRUG EFFORTS ON SOURCE COUNTRIES (04/14/94)

TEXT:*94041421.PFL

*LEF421 04/14/94*



PENTAGON TO FOCUS ANTIDRUG EFFORTS ON SOURCE COUNTRIES

(SP) (House hearing 4/14) nrb (465)

By Norma Romano-Benner

USIA Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- The Defense Department has restructured its counternarcotics

policy to focus on helping Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia fight drug

trafficking and production, according a senior Pentagon official.



Testifying before a House Armed Services subcommittee April 14, Brian E.

Sheridan, deputy assistant secretary of defense for drug enforcement policy

and support, said Pentagon support for these countries "will be aimed at

strengthening the democratic institutions (and) encouraging national

resolve and regional cooperation."



Sheridan made it clear that U.S. military support will be given only to

countries that request it.  Such assistance, he noted, will consist of

training and operational support to the police and military units with

counternarcotics responsibilities.



"As in the past," he pointed out, "U.S. personnel will be prohibited from

engaging in, or accompanying host nation forces on law enforcement

operations."



He said all training of host country forces will include a human rights

component.



Sheridan credited joint efforts for the dismantling of four major cocaine

trafficking organizations in Bolivia in 1993 and the arrest in Colombia of

Demetrio "Vaticano" Chavez Penaherra, reputed to be Peru's leading drug

trafficker.  Chavez was extradited to Peru, where he is being prosecuted

for narcotics trafficking and treason.



Despite a recommended cut of $135 million to specific counternarcotics

Pentagon programs, Sheridan said the Pentagon is unswerving in its

determination to dismantle cocaine cartels.

1

Lee P. Brown, the Clinton administration's top antidrug policymaker,

applauded the Pentagon's strategy.  He told the panel that President

Clinton is committed to "strengthening the ability of our partners to carry

out effective counternarcotics programs by themselves.



"We want in particular to assist countries that have the political will to

fight the drug trade.  Our specific programs with these countries are aimed

at strengthening their judicial systems, law enforcement and penal

institutions, and their control of money laundering and precursor and

precursor chemicals."



Both Sheridan and Brown agreed that in times of reduced budgets "it makes

sense to reduce our relying on random air and sea patrols and to extend

interdiction operations deeper into the source countries.



"This strategy" Brown said, "makes better use of available intelligence and

cooperation with host governments."  But he added "it is important to

remember that we have not dismantled our interdiction capability in the

transit zones."



Brown said the new strategy, announced in February, calls for a reduction,

but not the abolition, of the tools needed to interdict illegal drugs in

transit regions.



Sheridan said the Pentagon will continue to work with U.S. domestic law

enforcement agencies at the 2,000-mile border with Mexico.



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