[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 88 (Monday, July 10, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S7280]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         BLACK HAWK HELICOPTERS

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, we have an interesting 
situation where the Department of Defense is requesting that seven 
Black Hawk helicopters that the U.S. Army owns but are detailed to the 
Drug Enforcement Administration in the Bahamas be taken out of the 
Bahamas. No doubt there is a need elsewhere in the world, perhaps in 
Operation Iraqi Freedom. But this Senator wants to make the case, as I 
did 2 weeks ago when we had the Defense authorization bill on the 
floor, that the United States Government needs to find some additional 
helicopters to replace those that are there for the purpose of 
interdiction of all kinds of contraband.
  Indeed, we have experienced enormous success from having those seven 
helicopters in the last 5 years: 800 drug smugglers have been 
apprehended as a result of those helicopters being there; 25 tons of 
cocaine have been taken away from the drug smugglers; 82 tons of 
marijuana, as a result of the effectiveness of these helicopters. Of 
course, I am just speaking about the interdiction of contraband drugs, 
not even to speak of the interdiction of all of the human smuggling 
that is attempted into the United States through that route.
  It might be instructive for us to know that when a similar situation 
was done elsewhere in the Caribbean, in Central America in the late 
1990s, and seven helicopters were taken from Central America with a 
similar kind of mission, the incidence of drug smuggling rose 
precipitously. Of course, that is what will happen if these helicopters 
are not replaced.
  Since the 1980s, these helicopters have made an enormous difference. 
For example, it is hard to believe the statistic I am going to tell 
you, but 80 percent of all the cocaine that was smuggled into this 
country came through that region of the Atlantic, the Bahamas and the 
Turks and the Caicos, back in the 1980s. That percentage of the total 
cocaine smuggled into the country has been reduced to 10 percent. So 
the proof is in the pudding. The success is there.
  Two weeks ago when we had the Defense authorization bill on the 
floor, I added an amendment that said that the U.S. Government should 
come up with a replacement for those helicopters. If they are needed 
elsewhere, fine; that is, the war on terror. We also have a war on 
terror and a war to defend the homeland as well. That is right here. 
That is the southern sector off the shores of the Southern United 
States.
  It is my hope that the Defense Department will take very seriously 
the Defense authorization bill that makes that statement to the U.S. 
Government. Surely in the inventory of the entire U.S. Government, 
there are seven helicopters that can replace the ones being taken out 
and sent to Iraq. The success of our interdiction and the protection of 
our homeland is at stake.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________