[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 86 (Thursday, June 30, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 30, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
             WE MUST SHARE INFORMATION IN THE WAR ON DRUGS

                                 ______


                       HON. ROBERT G. TORRICELLI

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 30, 1994

  Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. Speaker, for 3 years, the centerpiece of the 
United States drug war in the Andes has been the use of military radar 
and spy planes to track and attack narco-traffickers at their weakest 
point: the air bridge of small planes linking the coca leaf fields of 
Peru with the cocaine laboratories of Colombia.
  But barely a year after this air interception network began 
successfully disrupting trafficking routes, the Pentagon abruptly 
ceased the operation on May 1. The Pentagon says it made this decision 
because it feared liability suits from families of traffickers shot 
down with the use of American-supplied information.
  Today, I am introducing legislation along with the distinguished 
chairman of the Subcommittee on International Security, International 
Organizations and Human Rights, Tom Lantos, that will ensure that the 
United States can once again share radar information with foreign 
governments to reduce illicit drug trafficking.
  Our legislation creates an exemption in the section of the United 
States Code that prohibits foreign countries from taking hostile action 
against civilian aircraft, and that prohibits the United States from 
providing information to aid in such action, if the aircraft in 
question are reasonably suspected of being engaged in the trafficking 
of controlled substances. The exemption only applies if the President 
certifies that the foreign country in question faces an extraordinary 
threat from illegal narcotics trafficking, and if such country has in 
place procedures to protect against innocent loss of life in the air 
and on the ground.
  I have made special trips to Colombia and Peru to attain support for 
the United States-Andean air strategy over the past 3 years. I have 
done so because this strategy is absolutely essential to our efforts to 
stop the flow of drugs into the United States. Indeed, with radar 
coverage suspended, Colombian and Peruvian defense officials say that 
drug trafficking flights have increased by as much as 20 percent.
  Virtually all the world's cocaine supply originates in the coca-leaf 
fields of Peru and Bolivia. About 80 percent of the drug passes through 
Colombia, for refining on its way north to the United States. 
Traffickers move most of their drugs in small planes.
  In 1993 alone, 32 tons of cocaine were seized in Colombia, as a 
result of the sharing of American-supplied information. Indeed, within 
a few days before the radars were shut off, American-supplied 
information helped the Colombians seize four drug planes.
  Both the Colombian and Peruvian governments maintain shoot down 
policies that are fair and responsible. According to these policies, 
civilian planes run the risk of being shot down only if pilots fly 
without flight plans, if they do not respond to radio contact by 
pursuing military aircraft, and if they ignore the military pilots' 
visual signals to land. Extensive rules of engagement for forcing down 
planes are in complete agreement with international law.
  The war on drugs cannot be won without complete cooperation between 
the United States and our Andean allies. The United States military has 
the capability to make a real difference by providing these allies with 
the information they need to successfully track and intercept narco-
trafficking aircraft. We must resume this information sharing 
immediately, and send a strong message to the narco-traffickers that 
they will pay tremendous consequences should they continue to evade 
international law.

                          ____________________