[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 155 (Friday, November 7, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11954-S11955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DRUG CZAR BARRY McCAFFREY AND THE DRUG WAR
Mr. KERREY. Mr. President, 2 years ago Senator Shelby, the
distinguished Senator from Alabama, and I were managing the Treasury-
Postal appropriations bill on the floor at about this time of the year,
I believe.
And one of the actions that we had taken in our bill was to zero out
the drug czar's office. And the reason that we had done that was that
we were quite unhappy with the progress and the performance and,
especially, the effort made to interdict and the effort here at home to
try to get young people to quit consuming drugs.
We were persuaded at the end of the day, Senator Hatch, Senator
Biden, and the President himself, saying that they were going to make
some substantial changes.
Change No. 1 that they made was to bring on Barry McCaffrey, a
retired Army general. I do not know how they talked him into it.
Somehow they managed to talk him into coming back and being the drug
czar.
Yesterday, Mr. President, Barry McCaffrey sent a letter to the
Secretary of Defense. Among other things he has done over the past
couple years, this justifies both the President's confidence in him and
Senator Shelby's and my confidence that action would occur.
General McCaffrey sent Secretary Cohen, Secretary of Defense, a
letter on the 6th of November saying essentially that:
The National Narcotics Leadership Act requires that the
Office of National Drug Control Policy review the drug budget
of each department and certify whether the amount requested
is adequate to implement the drug control program of the
President. For [fiscal year] 1999, the Department of Defense
has requested $809 million for drug control programs,
approximately the same level as FY 1998. After careful
review, ONDCP has determined pursuant to 21 U.S.C. . . . that
this budget cannot be certified.
Mr. President, this is a gutsy move. As you know, as everybody around
this town very long knows, to send the Department of Defense a letter
saying, ``We're not going to certify that your budget is adequate to
accomplish the strategy that we have all approved in terms of fighting
drugs in America,'' is a rather substantially gutsy move. And I support
it 100 percent.
Perhaps Secretary Cohen will have a response to it. I have a great
deal of respect for Secretary Cohen as well. Perhaps he will be able to
come back and give a justification as to why the additional money for
the Andean Coca Reduction Initiative, for the Mexican Initiative, for
the Caribbean Violent Crime and Regional Interdiction Initiative, and
for the National Guard Counterdrug Operations are fully funded at the
$809 million level.
My guess is, he will not. My guess is that General McCaffrey has done
his homework and analyzed it well and understands what the drug policy
is supposed to accomplish. And he understands that as drug czar he has
authority.
In the past, drug czars have not exercised that authority quite as
willingly. Barry McCaffrey did. And I hope this Congress supports him.
All of us, when we are home, we will have townhall meetings. And if the
subject of drugs comes up of, what are we doing? people say to me, ``At
least I hear you say it's a war on drugs. Describe the nature of the
war we're fighting. Are we winning it? Are we losing it? What kind of
resources are we putting into it?'' I say, ``We've got a drug czar.
We've got a drug strategy. And we're implementing that drug strategy.
We're not going to hold anything back in order to be successful.''
What General McCaffrey has done is he has called upon the Department
of Defense to do just that. As I said, I have not seen Secretary
Cohen's response to this letter. I am here this evening just to applaud
the drug czar for having the courage that previously drug czars have
been a little reluctant to show. And if it is shown that these
[[Page S11955]]
additional resources are needed in order to be able to answer the
question at home in townhall meetings in Nebraska that that is what is
needed to get the job done, then I hope the Congress will provide the
Department of Defense with the resources and insist that the Department
of Defense allocate in 1999 the resources in order to be able to get it
done.
I have not read all of them, the three- or four- or five-part series
in the Washington Post on the problem of drugs coming across the
border--so-called. There is not much of a border between the United
States and Mexico. It is over 2,000 miles. And from what I have seen
down there, there is not much to let you know when you are in Mexico or
in the United States. And there is a tremendous amount of truck and
automobile traffic and an awful lot of resources and money behind the
effort to get drugs into the United States.
It is corrupting Mexico, making it difficult for them to operate--an
extremely violent world. And in this morning's paper, there is a story
about Mr. Fuentes' doctors, three of whom were held responsible for his
death, apparently, giving him a facelift or something so he would look
a little different. They were found in concrete canisters along a road
in Mexico.
These guys play for keeps. From their standpoint, it is a war. From
their standpoint, they are deploying the maximum amount of resources,
their considerable amount of wealth and resources.
Barry McCaffrey, a first-rate military officer, now our drug czar,
when he says to me, ``We need additional resources in order to be
successful in these four areas,'' I pay attention to him. And I applaud
his willingness to be able to come to the Department of Defense and to
this Congress and say, ``This is what we need to do in order to be
successful.''
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that three documents be
printed in the Record: One is the letter of November 6 that General
McCaffrey sent to Secretary Cohen, and another is the document that
indicates the additional resources that are needed, and the third is
the ``Legal Authority to De-Certify Agency Budgets.''
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Executive Office of the President, Office of National
Drug Control Policy,
Washington, DC, November 6, 1997.
Hon. William S. Cohen,
Secretary of Defense, Department of Defense, The Pentagon,
Washington, DC.
Dear Secretary Cohen: The National Narcotics Leadership Act
requires that the Office of National Drug Control Policy
(ONDCP) review the drug budget of each department and certify
whether the amount requested is adequate to implement the
drug control program of the President. For FY 1999, the
Department of Defense (DoD) has requested $809 million for
drug control programs, approximately the same level as FY
1998. After careful review, ONDCP has determined pursuant to
21 U.S.C. Sec. 1502(c)(3)(B) that this budget cannot be
certified.
To correct the deficiencies in the current FY 1999
proposal, DoD needs to amend its FY 1999 budget to include an
additional $141 million in drug control initiatives, which
will enhance operations in the Andes, Mexico, the Caribbean,
and along our borders. Details associated with these
amendments are highlighted in the enclosed document. Under 21
U.S.C. Sec. 1502(c)(5), DoD is required to include this
additional funding in its FY 1999 submission to the Office of
Management and Budget.
The support of the Department of Defense (DoD) is critical
to achieving the goals of the National Drug Control Strategy.
Appreciate your leadership of DoD's important counterdrug
programs. The outstanding success of these missions in a
credit to the dedicated men and women of our armed forces.
Working together, the Executive Branch can structure a drug
control budget which will reduce drug use and its
consequences in America. Look forward to receiving the
Department's amended FY 1999 budget proposal. Your support on
this issue, which is so vital to our Nation's security and
the health of our young people, is critical.
Respectfully,
Barry R. McCaffrey,
Director.
____
FY 1999 Drug Control Budget Amendments Department of Defense (As
Required by 21 U.S.C. Sec. 1502(c)(5))
Andean Coca Reduction Initiative (+$75 million). This
initiative incorporates enforcement and interdiction measures
that will disrupt the cocaine export industry, These efforts
will include support for host nation programs to interdict
the flow of coca base and cocaine in source countries, as
well as expanded support to Peruvian and Colombian riverine
interdiction programs.
Mexican Initiative (+$24 million). This proposal will
provide additional resources to reduce the flow of illicit
drugs from Mexico into the United States and disrupt and
dismantle criminal organizations engaging in drug trafficking
and money laundering. This effort will help implement the
Declaration of the Mexican-U.S. Alliance Against Drugs signed
by President Zedillo and President Clinton on May 6, 1997. It
will expand U.S. operational support to detection and
monitoring missions in Mexican airspace and territorial seas,
establish a joint law enforcement investigative capability in
the Bilateral Border Task Forces, and aid the Mexican
Government in developing a self-sustaining interdiction
capability.
Caribbean Violent Crime and Regional Interdiction
Initiative (+$12 million). This effort will target drug
trafficking-related criminal activities and violence in the
Caribbean Region, including South Florida, Puerto Rico, the
U.S. Virgin Islands, and the independent states and
territories of the Eastern Caribbean. This will implement
commitments made by the President during the Caribbean Summit
held in Barbados.
National Guard Counterdrug Operations (+$30 million). These
funds will partially restore reductions incurred since FY
1993 in State Plans funding, which includes support for
counterdrug activities along the border.
____
Executive Office of the President, Office of National
Drug Control Policy,
Washington, DC, November 6, 1997.
Memorandum for Director
Through: Chief of Staff
From: Charles Blanchard, Director, Office of Legal Counsel
Legal Authority To De-Certify Agency Budgets
At your request, both General Counsel Judith Leonard and I
independently reviewed ONDCP's statutes to determine our
authority to certify national drug control agency budget.
It is our firm and considered legal opinion that the
statute gives you two specific powers:
(1) The power to ``certify in writing as to the adequacy of
such [agency budget] request in whole or in part . . . and
[should a budget not be certified] . . . include in the
certification an initiative or funding level that would make
this request adequate.'' [21 U.S.C. Sec. 1502(c)(3)(B)]; and
(2) The power to ``request the head of a department or
agency to include in the department's or agency's budget
submission [to OMB] funding requests for specific initiatives
that are consistent with the President's priorities for the
National Drug Control Strategy'' [21 U.S.C. Sec. 1502(c)(5)]
Most importantly, the statute makes quite clear that ``the
department or agency shall comply with such a [ONDCP]
request.'' [21 U.S.C. Sec. 1502(c)(5)] In our view, this
power to order an agency to place specific initiatives in the
budget request is the most important power.
We have reviewed the proposed letter to the Secretary of
Defense, and believe that it is fully consistent with this
statute.
Mr. KERREY. I yield the floor.
Mr. BURNS addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
____________________