Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2023

August 11, 2023

Presidential Determination No. 2023â09

Memorandum for the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense

Subject: Continuation of U.S. Drug Interdiction Assistance to the Government of Colombia By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United

States, and pursuant to the authority vested in me by section 1012 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995, as amended (22 U.S.C. 2291â4), I hereby certify, with respect to Colombia, that: (1) interdiction of aircraft reasonably suspected to be primarily engaged in illicit drug trafficking in that country's airspace is necessary, because of the extraordinary threat posed by illicit drug trafficking to the national security of that country; and

(2) Colombia has appropriate procedures in place to protect against innocent loss of life in the air and on the ground in connection with such interdiction, which includes effective means to identify and warn an aircraft before the use of force is directed against the aircraft.

The Secretary of State is authorized and directed to publish this determination in the *Federal Register *and to notify the Congress of this determination.

Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:15 a.m., August 18, 2023] NOTE: This memorandum was published in the *Federal Register *on August 21.

Categories: Communications to Federal Agencies : Colombia, U.S. drug interdiction assistance, memorandum.

Subjects: Colombia, counternarcotics cooperation with U.S.; Illegal drugs, interdiction efforts; Secretary of State.

DCPD Number: DCPD202300690.

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