Source: San Antonio News-Express
Contact:  http://www.expressnews.com/
Pubdate: 25 Aug 1998
Author: Gary Martin Express-News Washington Bureau

BORDER DRUG PLAN SET TO BE UNVEILED

Mccaffrey to make call for regional czar to supervise efforts at ports
and crossings

WASHINGTON -- Drug czar Barry McCaffrey will propose changes in the
nation's strategy to stem narcotics trafficking, including naming a federal
official to coordinate efforts at all 24 ports-of-entry on the U.S.-Mexico
border.

McCaffrey is set to unveil the plan today in El Paso, where he begins a
two-day tour of local facilities and meets with federal, state and local
authorities involved in the drug war.

Earlier this month, McCaffrey, a retired four-star Army general, called for
a presidential nominee to become a Southwest border czar to coordinate law
enforcement activities from Texas to California.

Saying the United States needs "a coherent, coordinated effort to stem the
flow of drugs," he'll press for a federal official at 24 land ports to
better manage resources and suppress rivalries among law enforcement
agencies on the Southwest border.

McCaffrey also wants a federal officer at 39 crossing points on the
U.S.-Mexican border to coordinate efforts of the U.S. Customs Service,
Border Patrol and state and local agencies.

The coordinators at ports and crossings would answer to the Southwest
border czar, who'd be stationed in El Paso, one of the nation's busiest
ports and near the center of the 2,000-mile border from the Rio Grande
Valley to the Pacific Ocean.

"Only by working together, utilizing the strengths of all of our agencies,
can we build a border infrastructure that will defeat the flow of drugs,"
McCaffrey told a San Diego audience Aug. 5.

McCaffrey, who heads the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy, is expected to detail his proposals in a report to President
Clinton this fall.

In Texas, congressional reaction to McCaffrey's idea has been mixed.

U.S. Rep. SilvestrE9 Reyes, D-El Paso, applauded a new approach to the
anti-smuggling and trafficking efforts that he said have failed to stop
narcotics from streaming into the country.

Reyes, a former Border Patrol sector chief, has called for increased
manpower and resources for federal agents stationed in the Southwest.

But Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, questioned creation of another
layer of federal bureaucracy in the battle against drugs.

"I'm frustrated," Rodriguez said earlier this month. "There is a serious
situation in this country, and the problem is those that want to consume
this stuff."

Republicans, meanwhile, have called the Clinton administration strategy
against drug trafficking a failure. House Speaker Newt Gingrich outlined a
GOP blueprint earlier this year to strengthen laws and penalties for those
caught smuggling drugs into the country.

McCaffrey concedes the current federal effort lacks the cohesion and
coordination to stop drugs from entering the country at the Southwest
 border.

He said 60 percent of cocaine entering this country and more than 50
percent of marijuana and methamphetamine come through the Southwest border
by airplane, boats, vehicles and pedestrians.

While resources at the border have been increased recently, the process
still lets far too many drugs sneak through because of overlaps in
coverage, redundancy in efforts and lack of central coordination, McCaffrey
said.

He has urged increased cooperation between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement
agencies and is scheduled to meet with Mexican Attorney General Jorge
Madrazo tonight.

That meeting will be preceded by a tour of the border port and the Bridge
of the Americas in El Paso and briefings with officials from various
federal agencies.

Wednesday, McCaffrey is to outline his proposals to strengthen law
enforcement efforts on the border to El Paso business leaders at Fort Bliss.

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Checked-by: Pat Dolan