[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 49 (Thursday, March 16, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4005-S4009]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 DRUG TRAFFICKING IN THE UNITED STATES

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, 3 weeks ago, the Senate Judiciary 
Committee, of which I am a member, held a very interesting hearing on 
drug trafficking and the increase of drug use in the United States. I 
would like to say a few words on the subject.
  California has now replaced Florida as the major point of importation 
of cocaine in the United States. The California Bureau of Narcotics 
Enforcement reports that 80 percent of the clandestine methamphetamine 
manufacturing labs seized and dismantled in the United States are in 
California. More illegal drugs are coming into this Nation today than 
ever before. And Federal efforts at stopping the flow of drugs into 
this Nation are simply inadequate.
  Last week, I met with the head of the Drug Enforcement 
Administration, Thomas Constantine, who told me that the DEA knows of 
at least forty 727-sized planes controlled by the Cali drug cartel in 
Colombia being used to smuggle cocaine into this country--forty 727-
sized planes. Most of these planes are offloaded in northern Mexico, 
and drugs are moved across the California border and other Southwest 
borders.
  Mr. Constantine also indicated to me that the Cali drug cartel's net 
profit last year was $7 billion, that the cartel controls the air 
traffic control system of Colombia, that they control the phone 
company, which allows them to backtrack and tape all phone calls, and 
that they are first-rate practitioners of intimidation and violence.
  Consider just some of the following, Mr. President. Cocaine smuggled 
across the California line accounts for at least 70 percent of the 
drugs sent over the entire Southwest border by rings based in Mexico, 
making the State the prime staging area for the shipment of cocaine 
from cartels in Colombia and other South American countries.
  Last year, the amount of cocaine seized coming across the United 
States-Mexican border plummeted, and not a single pound of cocaine was 
confiscated from the more than two million trucks that passed through 
three of the busiest entry points along the Southwest border--Laredo 
and El Paso in Texas, and Nogales in Arizona.
  According to the Los Angeles Times, only 3.7 percent of laden trucks 
are comprehensively inspected at three San Diego-area ports of entry. 
The average rate along the entire Southwest border is 11.4 percent. 
However, last year, laden trucks crossing the border increased 51 
percent, and empty trucks increased 38 percent.
  Let me say clearly, I believe current Federal efforts to stop the 
entry of illegal drugs are not working.


                        The Line Release Program

  Let me describe one example of the failure of the Federal Government 
to stop drug smuggling. It's called the line release program. I believe 
this program should be discontinued immediately pending an evaluation 
of its effectiveness. Three weeks ago, I wrote to Secretary Robert 
Rubin making that recommendation.
  The line release program was created in 1986 to expedite commerce 
entering the United States from Canada. In recent years, the program 
was expanded to the Mexican border as well.
  Under the line release program, so-called low-risk United States 
companies are permitted to ship goods from Mexican manufacturers 
without inspection. But the line release program has had a major 
unintended effect. In the single-minded pursuit of increased commerce, 
more trucks and commercial vehicles are being waved through border 
checkpoints without being inspected. The result: The amount of illegal 
drugs coming across the border is higher than ever before.
  According to a Los Angeles Times story from February 13, 1995, since 
the line release program was implemented, shipments of goods have 
increased dramatically at four critical points of entry along the 
United States-Mexico border--Laredo and El Paso in Texas, Nogales in 
Arizona, and San Diego in California. Yet, even as the number of 
shipments increased, the rate of inspections and drug seizures 
decreased dramatically.
  I ask unanimous consent that this Los Angeles Times story be printed 
in the Record following my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  [[Page S4006]] (See exhibit 1.)
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. The same Los Angeles Times story states that not 1 
single pound of cocaine was seized at three of the major points of 
entry into the United States in 1994. Not 1 pound.
  One local official reportedly said:

       Obviously, we're in an area of international trade. We're 
     not in a situation where we can just stop traffic for the 
     sake of narcotics risk. . . We examined three percent of all 
     the laden trucks that crossed. That is a lot of trucks.

  Right? Wrong.
  My view is quite different. Increased commerce does not justify 
increased drug smuggling. It is time to close down our border to 
illegal immigrants and to illegal drug smuggling. It is unacceptable to 
have a Federal program in place that comprehensively checks just 3 
percent of the trucks coming across the border where we know the 
highest level of drug smuggling occurs.
  Let me give you an idea of one incident in California. This past 
November, 5 tons of cocaine was headed to a home in Rialto in San 
Bernardino County. I am not talking about bags of cocaine. I am not 
talking about pounds of cocaine. I am not talking about kilograms of 
cocaine. I am talking about tons--5 tons in 1 shipment going to one 
house in Rialto, California. That is the level on which drug smuggling 
is now taking place.
  On February 27, 1995, I sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Rubin 
asking the administration to discontinue the line release program in 
California pending an immediate evaluation of its capability to seek 
out and confiscate drugs coming across the border.
  I ask unanimous consent that a copy of this letter be printed in the 
Record following my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (See exhibit 2.)
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Recently, I asked the Customs Service, particularly 
the Director of Customs, for a complete list of the more than 10,000 
individuals and companies that have been approved to participate in 
this so-called line release program. I have yet to be provided with 
that list.
  In addition, this past Friday, I wrote to Secretary Rubin regarding a 
March 10 story in the Associated Press.
  I ask unanimous consent that this letter and the Associated Press 
story be printed in the Record following my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (See exhibit 3.)
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, the Associated Press story to which I 
refer cited two particularly alarming items.
  First, the owner of a harbor warehouse in Los Angeles who continues 
to this day to profit from a Customs Service inspection station located 
on his property, even though he is currently under federal indictment 
on charges of bribing an immigration agent $10,000 for false documents 
for himself and employees.
  Second, the Treasury Department inspector general's office has failed 
to secure a single indictment of a Federal official in the western 
region in the last 5 years, despite numerous allegations of wrongdoing.
  The inspector general's office, which is responsible for 
investigating criminal offenses at the Customs Service and other 
agencies within the Treasury Department, has been successful in other 
regions of the country, having obtained 14 felony convictions in the 
Northeast region, 8 in the Southern region, and 1 in the Central 
Division--but none in the Western region where the problem is the most 
serious.
  These allegations are very disturbing, and I believe they deserve the 
full and immediate attention of the Justice Department.


                          Operation Hard Line

  The Clinton administration recently announced a new Federal 
initiative to address the problem of cocaine smuggling across the 
southwest border. This effort, termed ``Operation Hard Line,'' will 
transfer between 40 and 80 Customs agents to the southwest border, 
direct new funds toward needed resources and technology, and focus with 
greater intensity on intelligence-gathering and assessment.
  It is too early to say if Operation Hard Line will have an impact. 
But I am very skeptical. The problems at the border are simply too 
great for Band-Aid solutions.
  Enforcing the border is a Federal responsibility and the fact is that 
the job is not being adequately performed.
  The Federal Government must take strong action and make a long-term 
commitment to go after drug traffickers. The administration must demand 
that Mexico assist the United States in this effort in every way, as 
this Nation is assisting Mexico in so many other areas.
  Forty 727-size planes constantly land in northern Mexico, offload 
tons of cocaine, and move them through our borders. How this happens 
and how we are going to stop it is something we must address. We cannot 
tolerate corruption at high levels in the Government of Mexico as is 
now being written up on the front pages of our newspapers, where a 
Mexican official responsible for stopping narcotics has a bank account 
of several million dollars. Where do we believe that money came from?
  As a member of both the Judiciary and the Foreign Relations 
Committees, I intend to take an aggressive oversight role of Federal 
efforts to stop drug smuggling across this Nation's borders and will 
report regularly to my colleagues in the Senate on the progress.
  I will also begin to explore legislation to deny United States 
foreign aid to countries such as Colombia, who do not take appropriate 
steps to control the flow of contraband out of their own countries.
  This administration has just sent $20 billion in loan guarantees to 
Mexico, of which $6 billion has already been drawn down. I think the 
United States deserves cooperation from the highest levels of the 
Mexican Government in what is a major scourge on the relationship 
between our two countries, the trafficking of large amounts of cocaine.
  Shortly, I hope to see for myself the Customs Service's surveillance 
efforts at the border. Recently, it was described in a television 
report on NBC's ``Dateline.'' What the story showed was a former 
Customs agent pointing out a truck, a huge container truck, going right 
through a Customs' checkpoint, and saying, ``This truck is a known drug 
smuggler. Watch what happens.'' And the truck went right through under 
the ``line release'' program.
  I find it hard to accept that the Federal Government is so desperate 
to increase commerce that it will allow drugs to freely enter the 
United States.
  Mr. President, I thank you for providing me with this opportunity to 
update my colleagues. I will report further on developments.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
                               Exhibit 1

              [From the Los Angeles Times, Feb. 12, 1995]

           Border Inspections Eased and Drug Seizures Plunge

                             (By H.G. Reza)


   customs: corruption probes focus on u.s. policy to promote mexico 
                    trade. few trucks are examined.

       San Diego.--The amount of cocaine seized from Mexican 
     trucks and cargo at the border plummeted last year, as U.S. 
     Customs Service officials pressed on with a program to 
     promote trade by letting most commercial cargo pass into this 
     country without inspection.
       Not a single pound of cocaine was confiscated from more 
     than 2 million trucks that passed through three of the 
     busiest entry points along the Southwest border where federal 
     officials say most of the drug enters the country.
       Of the 62,000 pounds of cocaine that Customs seized from 
     commercial cargo nationwide, less than a ton was taken from 
     shipments along the border with Mexico.
       One reason for the sharp decline in seizures is that 
     Customs officials appear to be doing a poor job of 
     identifying and inspecting those trucks and cargo containers 
     being used for drug smuggling, according to an internal 
     report obtained by The Times.
       ``The target selection methods are * * * critical and 
     apparently in more need of improvements given the huge number 
     of examinations without success,'' said the Dec. 13 report by 
     a Customs analyst.
       Officials say liberalized importing procedures have 
     dramatically increased the number of trucks crossing the 
     border from Mexico, producing trade benefits for both 
     countries. And now the Customs Service is considering new 
     measures to speed up the entry of air and auto travelers into 
     the United States.
       But, according to records and interviews, the facilitation 
     policy also has become the focal point of wide-ranging 
     corruption probes at a number of Southwest border crossings 
     and inspection facilities.
       [[Page S4007]] Since last summer, federal authorities have 
     been looking into allegations that corrupt Customs officials 
     and inspectors are tipping smugglers that certain shipments 
     and vehicles have been targeted for narcotics inspections.
       Sources said investigators also are examining allegations 
     that:
       Some inspectors and officials in San Diego were bribed by 
     Mexican drug rings to remove intelligence information from 
     Customs computers.
       Investigators also are focusing on allegations that 
     smugglers are transporting drugs in the uninspected trucks 
     that bring cargo from Mexico.
       A principal target, sources said, is an inspector who in 
     1990 attempted to release a propane tanker although drug-
     sniffing dogs had sounded the alarm. The tanker later was 
     found to be carrying four tons of cocaine.
       Inspectors and officials in the Long Beach area were bribed 
     to allow trucks from Mexico and contraband, including AK-47 
     rifles and ammunition from China, to be smuggled into the 
     ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in ship containers.
       The investigation is concentrating on private warehouses in 
     the Long Beach area where cargo containers are examined by 
     Customs inspectors for contraband, drugs and compliance with 
     importation laws. The warehouses are customarily paid a fee 
     for use of their facilities and assisting in the inspections.
       But sources said importers allegedly were charged up to 
     $425 per container for hundreds of examinations that were 
     never done. Investigators have been told that two Customs 
     officials received kickbacks.
       In interviews, Justice Department officials declined to 
     confirm or deny the existence of the investigations. ``If 
     anyone has information regarding corruption within the 
     Customs Service, we would certainly be interested in 
     receiving that information,'' said Assistant U.S. Atty. 
     Michael Flanagan in Los Angeles, who is overseeing some of 
     the investigations.
       Customs officials declined to comment on the 
     investigations. They also defended their low seizure rates 
     and the ``facilitation program'' that since the late 1980s 
     has allowed increasing numbers of trucks and cargo containers 
     to go uninspected at the border.
       Lou Samenfink, Customs cargo control branch chief in 
     Washington, said he does not know why seizures have fallen 
     off and pointed out that the Customs Service instituted a new 
     and improved random system in October for identifying 
     shipments to be inspected.
       ``It could just as easily be that [drugs are] not there,'' 
     he said. ``It could certainly mean that our targeting policy 
     is wrong, or that it's so effective that the smugglers aren't 
     using commercial cargo to bring drugs in.''
       The Drug Enforcement Administration reports that 244,626 
     pounds of cocaine were seized nationwide by federal law 
     enforcement agencies in 1993, the most recent year for which 
     statistics are available. And officials estimate that only 
     about 10% of the cocaine smuggled into the country is seized.
       Joaquin Legarreta, spokesman for the DEA intelligence 
     center in El Paso, said most cocaine enters the United States 
     across the Mexican border, and most comes through regular 
     ports of entry in commercial trucks and passenger vehicles.
       In 1986, Customs began a ``facilitation'' policy to speed 
     up the shipment of cargo from Canada, and the program was 
     expanded to the Mexican border in recent years.
       As part of this policy, ``low-risk'' U.S. importers are 
     allowed to ship commodities from a Mexican manufacturer 
     virtually without inspection, after passing a rigorous 
     background check. Under the so-called ``line release'' 
     program, some importers go months without having their 
     shipments inspected.
       Former Customs Commissioner William Von Raab, who helped 
     establish the program on the Canadian border, said he was 
     shocked when it later was used on the Mexico border.
       ``It's terrible. [This] was developed to be used at a 
     border with the highest level of integrity and lowest level 
     of risk,'' Von Raab said. ``I certainly would never have 
     deployed it at the Mexican border.''
       The San Diego district has the lowest inspection rate for 
     commercial trucks, records show. Only 3.7% of the laden 
     trucks are inspected at Otay Mesa, Calexico and Tecate in 
     California and Andrade in Arizona, compared to an average 
     rate of 11.4% along the entire U.S.-Mexico border.
       ``Obviously, we're in an area of international trade,'' 
     said Rex Applegate, port director of the San Diego district. 
     ``We're not in a situation where we can just stop traffic for 
     the sake of narcotics risk. . . .We examined 3% of all the 
     laden trucks that crossed. That is a lot of trucks. That is a 
     lot of intrusion.''
       Sources said inspections are conducted randomly, once every 
     500 to 2,500 entries, and certain shipments are targeted 
     based on intelligence information.
       The facilitation program has resulted in increased truck 
     traffic all along the border, especially last year when 
     records show that laden trucks increased 51% and empty trucks 
     increased 38%. In anticipation of the North American Free 
     Trade Agreement a year ago, U.S. and foreign investors opened 
     new manufacturing plants on the Mexican side of the border, 
     triggering an increase in cargo shipments to this country.
       Numerous inspectors and agents have told The Times they 
     believe that the facilitation policy has provided narcotics 
     smugglers with an easy way of bringing tons of cocaine into 
     the U.S.
       ``The smugglers know our system as well or better than 
     us,'' said Jay Erdmann, an inspector for 25 years who is 
     retiring next month. ``Why should they smuggle the dope 
     through the desert when they can use line release?''
       San Diego port director Applegate said the importing and 
     drug targeting procedures are ``very sophisticated.''
       ``Quite frankly, the line inspector is not aware of this,'' 
     Applegate said. ``These guys are like platoon sergeants 
     questioning the war strategy.''
       But he also said inspectors have a responsibility to target 
     vehicles, based on behavioral analysis of the drivers.
       ``This risk assessment * * * depends a lot on the 
     inspector's own knowledge,'' Applegate said.
       A Dec. 13 document entitled ``1994 Port Tracking Report'' 
     said Customs concentrates its drug enforcement efforts on 
     shipments from 16 ``high-risk'' countries in South and 
     Central America and the Caribbean.
       The report said that, although most ``high-risk containers 
     pass through the Mexican border, ``substantially less'' 
     cocaine was seized there last year than the previous year.
       Nationwide, customs inspectors and agents seized 62,850 
     pounds of cocaine from commercial land, air and sea haulers 
     last year--only 2,000 pounds less than in 1993.
       But along the Southwest border, 1,765 pounds was 
     confiscated in 1994--all at Calexico--compared to 7,708 
     pounds in 1993 and 234 pounds in 1992 when truck traffic was 
     lighter. Customs statistics show there was a similar decline 
     in marijuana seizures, from 17,736 pounds in 1993 to 9,459 
     pounds last year.
       Officials were unable to provide statistics for cocaine 
     seizures in previous years along the entire border.
       At the Otay Mesa commercial port--third largest on the 
     border and located seven miles east of San Diego--there were 
     no cocaine seizures in the past three years. There also were 
     no seizures during the period at El Paso, the second largest 
     commercial border crossing.
       Laredo, Tex., the biggest commercial port, had no cocaine 
     seizures last year. Inspectors there found 5,027 pounds of 
     drug in 1993 and none in 1992.
       Meanwhile, Customs officials have two new proposals to make 
     it easier for airplane and auto travelers, not just trucks, 
     to enter the United States, The Times has learned.
       One plan under study, called Airport 2000, would require 
     airline employees to input the names of passport holders into 
     Customs computers.
       Customs inspectors would then check the names for criminal 
     records or ties to drug smuggling. If the name used by the 
     traveler does not arouse suspicion, he would be allowed to 
     leave the airport without having to go through Customs 
     inspection.
       ``Airport 2000 is a concept developed here and is passenger 
     oriented,'' said Dennis Shimkoski, a Customs Service 
     spokesman in Washington.
       A plan being studied in San Diego would make optional the 
     now-mandatory license plate check of every vehicle entering 
     this country from Mexico. Like Airport 2000, the
      plan was conceived to cut costs and ease entry into the 
     United States.
       Computer checks of license plates have led to the seizure 
     of hundreds of stolen vehicles and thousands of pounds of 
     drugs. The computer checks also tell an inspector if the 
     vehicle is suspected of being used in smuggling and if the 
     driver has a criminal record.
       Applegate dismissed complaints from inspectors and Customs 
     agents that the plan signals a retreat from the drug war and 
     invites corruption in the ranks of inspectors.
       ``The issue is very simple. Our land border traffic is 
     increasing, and our budget is not,'' Applegate said. ``There 
     would be a certain number of inspectors who would view this 
     as the grossest sellout in customs history. [But] how much is 
     it costing the Customs Service to input all this data and 
     what are we getting for it?''
       Von Raab, the former Customs commissioner, said he believes 
     that the proposals will weaken enforcement efforts. ``I have 
     always seen Customs as a regulatory agency to guard borders 
     and collect tariffs,'' he said.
       Customs inspectors and agents have complained for years 
     about what they call a loophole in the facilitation program. 
     They alleged in interviews that drug rings are paying 
     unscrupulous truck drivers and trucking companies to smuggle 
     cocaine and other drugs--but Customs officials do not subject 
     drivers and trucking companies to the same background checks 
     as importers and manufacturers.
       A veteran investigator who has worked on several high-
     profile drug cases in San Diego said that ``you can have the 
     biggest drug dealer in Mexico drive a truck through the 
     compound * * * and the [line-release program's] computer 
     would never tell you who he was, even if he used his real 
     name.''
       ``That's correct,'' said Barry Fleming, who supervises the 
     line release program in San Diego. ``Right now, I have to 
     agree with the inspectors. [The problem is] the carriers. How 
     do we operate in the unknown where we don't know the risk of 
     the driver, the tractor [truck] or the trucking company?''
       When asked why there were no cocaine seizures at the Otay 
     mesa commercial port between 1992 and 1994, Fleming said: 
     ``Is it [because of faulty] targeting? Probably it is. We 
     don't have enough intelligence.''
       Carolyn Goding, president of the San Diego Brokers Assn., 
     agreed that there is ``nothing 
     [[Page S4008]] to stop an unscrupulous driver from throwing 
     some cocaine underneath the seat.'' However, she said the 
     program ``is working well for the honest importer by helping 
     facilitate the movement of cargo.''
                                                                    ____

                               Exhibit 2


                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                Washington, DC, February 27, 1995.
     Hon. Robert Rubin,
     Secretary, Department of the Treasury,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Secretary Rubin: In an earlier letter, dated February 
     17, 1995, I requested an investigation and reevaluation of 
     federal efforts to seize illicit narcotics coming across this 
     nation's borders. Since then, I've learned a great deal more 
     and today I am writing to express my strong belief that the 
     Customs Service's ``line release'' program (as we know it 
     today) should be discontinued in California pending an 
     evaluation of its ability to seek out and confiscate illicit 
     contraband entering this country.
       I understand approximately 10,000 companies now participate 
     in a broad effort to move large trucks across the border with 
     Mexico, often without inspection of cargo. I have asked the 
     Customs Service for a full list of the companies approved to 
     take part in the ``line release'' program but have yet to 
     receive this information. I would like to re-state my request 
     for this information.
       My strong belief that the ``line release'' program should 
     be discounted pending further review is based on a number of 
     factors:
       (1) It is known that the Cali Cartel in Columbia is 
     shipping tons of illegal drugs on planes as large as 727's to 
     Mexico, and then transporting drugs across the border and 
     into the continental United States in trucks. Recent press 
     reports have documented increased incidents of illegal 
     smuggling since the ``line release'' program began, and a 
     dramatic decrease of inspection and drug seizures. In fact, 
     in 1994 not a single pound of cocaine was confiscated from 
     more than two million trucks that passed through three of the 
     busiest entry points along the southwest border--Laredo and 
     El Paso in Texas, and Nogales in Arizona.
       (2) Hearings of the Senate Judiciary Committee have 
     demonstrated that drug smuggling is on the rise and 
     California has become the major point of cocaine importation 
     in the United States.
       (3) An internal Treasury document recently brought to my 
     attention, and subsequently printed in a news report this 
     past Friday, suggests that serious deficiencies in the ``line 
     release'' program may actually facilitate the flow of illegal 
     drugs into California.
       These developments have served only to increase my 
     skepticism as to whether the ``line release'' program ever 
     made sense at all. In 1993, before NAFTA, Customs officials 
     seized almost four tons of cocaine off trucks crossing the 
     border; in 1994 it was down to less than a ton. Attached is a 
     story from yesterday's New York Times which very accurately 
     reflects the way I feel. I have also attached recent stories 
     printed in the Los Angeles Times which raise alarming 
     questions about illegal drug smuggling across this nation's 
     2,000 mile border with Mexico.
       In my opinion, the ``line release'' program only encourages 
     the continued and increased flow of drug smuggling. 
     California simply cannot be the testing ground for programs 
     that are ineffective and which only invite increased drug 
     smuggling.
       I would appreciate a response as soon as possible regarding 
     this matter. I would also like your views as to whether you 
     believe Operation Hard Line, the new initiative by the 
     Customs Service to tackle the problem of cocaine smuggling 
     into California, adequately addresses the problems raised 
     about the ``line release'' program.
       Thank you, in advance, for your personal attention to this 
     matter. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
           Sincerely,
                                                 Dianne Feinstein,
     U.S. Senator.
                                                                    ____


                               Exhibit 3


                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                   Washington, DC, March 10, 1995.
     Hon. Robert Rubin,
     Secretary, Department of the Treasury,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Secretary Rubin: Two weeks ago, I wrote to you 
     regarding my strong belief that the ``line release'' program 
     currently being administered by the Customs Service should be 
     discontinued in California pending an evaluation of its 
     effectiveness to seek out and confiscate illicit contraband 
     entering the United States. I have not yet received a 
     response.
       I believe strongly that this is a urgent matter which 
     merits your priority attention. To this end, I am also 
     enclosing a copy of an Associated Press story from yesterday 
     which raises additional questions about the situation at the 
     border, including an alleged 1993 incident in which the then-
     District Director of the Customs Service, who was later 
     promoted, may have prevented investigators from conducting a 
     surprise inspection of the ``line release'' program at the 
     southwest border. This investigation was aimed at determining 
     whether unauthorized trucks, potentially carrying drugs, were 
     allowed to cross the border without inspection.
       As I stated in my February 27 letter, I believe the ``line 
     release'' program only encourages the continued and increased 
     flow of drug smuggling across the southwest border.
       Again, I urge your priority attention to this matter and 
     look forward to a response to my original letter as soon as 
     possible.
           Sincerely,
                                                 Dianne Feinstein,
     U.S. Senator.
                                                                    ____

               [From the Associated Press, Mar. 10, 1995]

   Customs Fails To Act on Suspension for Indicted Warehouse Operator

                           (By Michael White)

       Los Angeles.--Eight months after a harbor warehouse owner 
     was indicted on bribery charges, he's still profiting from a 
     Customs Service inspection station on his property although 
     investigators urged that it be shut down.
       That illustrates a lack of clout that frustrates the U.S. 
     Treasury Department's Office of the Inspector General in its 
     role as watchdog over some of the government's biggest 
     moneymakers, including Customs and the Internal Revenue 
     Service, according to interviews and government records.
       The problem is particularly acute in the agency's Western 
     region where, unlike the rest of the country, inspector 
     general's investigators have failed to obtain a single 
     indictment of a federal official in five years.
       ``I think that was one of the reasons I was hired two years 
     ago, was to change the direction, and that doesn't happen 
     over night,'' said James Cottos, assistant inspector general 
     for investigations in Washington.
       In the case of the harbor warehouse, the inspector 
     general's auditors recommended last October that National 
     Distribution Services be suspended from doing business. Its 
     owner, Steve Moallem, had been indicted on charges he paid an 
     immigration agent $10,000 for false documents for himself and 
     employees, records show.
       Being picked as the site for an examination station can 
     mean big profits for a warehouse operator, who charges 
     importers for storing and unloading cargo to be inspected.
       Neither Customs nor the Treasury Department itself has 
     acted on the recommendation to suspend the company.
       ``We can't force the (Customs) agency to do anything,'' 
     said Rick Dory, a Treasury Department attorney.
       Customs spokeman Mike Flemming said the case is up to 
     Treasury officials in Washington.
       The Inspector General's Office is charged with 
     investigating criminal offenses by management level employees 
     at Customs, the IRS, the Secret Service and a variety of 
     other Treasury agencies.
       During Cottos' tenure, Treasury's Northeast Region has 
     logged 14 felony convictions. The Southern Region has had 
     eight and the Central Division one. Statistics for the 
     office's performance before his tenure were not available 
     because good records were not kept, Cottos said.
       In the West, however, things are different.
       The inspector general's office was absent last year when 
     the Justice Department launched a corruption investigation 
     among Customs officials in Los Angeles and San Diego, said a 
     source familiar with the investigation.
       The unusual move was made at the insistence of witnesses 
     who doubted the effectiveness of the inspector general's 
     office, said the source, who spoke only on the condition of 
     anonymity.
       The concern stemmed in part from a 1993 incident in which 
     the inspector general's office tried to investigate 
     allegations that cocaine-laden trucks were crossing the 
     border unimpeded under a Customs program intended to speed 
     the flow of cargo from Mexico.
       In that case, inspector general investigators, accompanied 
     by Customs narcotics agents trying to make unannounced 
     inspections of vehicles and records at the Otay Mesa port of 
     entry near San Diego, were denied entrance by Customs 
     officials.
       Under orders of Custom's San Diego District Director Rudy 
     Camacho, the investigation team was told to leave, according 
     to several sources who witnessed the incident.
       They returned the next week in a visit arranged with 
     Camacho's office, but by then word of the operation had 
     leaked to truckers and import brokers they were targeting, 
     according to a January 1994 memo by the investigators.
       ``Rudy Camacho ran them out of San Diego,'' said one 
     veteran inspector familiar with the incident.
       Camacho, later promoted to commissioner of Customs' Western 
     region, said he told the investigators to leave because they 
     had, without his authorization, brought Customs inspectors 
     along. He said he had sole authority over Customs inspectors' 
     activities and scheduling.
       His office later cooperated fully with the investigators, 
     he said.
       Cottos said Treasury agencies often resist his office's 
     attempts to investigate internal wrongdoing.
       ``People don't want anybody else to come in and do an 
     investigation of them,'' he said.

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
   [[Page S4009]] The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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