Pubdate: Sat, 25 Sep 1999
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Author: Matt Kelley, The Associated Press

DRUG CZAR URGES BORDER OVERSEER

CRIME: McCaffrey says someone is needed to coordinate the efforts of
federal, state and local authorities.

WASHINGTON - Results in the fight against drug smuggling along the Mexican
border will not improve much without an official to coordinate the efforts
of 23 federal agencies, President Clinton's drug-policy director said Friday.

"This is nuts. We've got to have somebody for the local police and sheriff
to go to," Barry McCaffrey told a House panel.

Some lawmakers said the coordinator should be able to issue orders and
direct resources for drug-fighting efforts, not just act as a liaison among
agencies.

"This is an invasion! I don't think we can say coordination is the answer,"
said Rep. Patsy Mink, D-Hawaii. "Somebody needs to be in charge. The
military might approach this from an overall command post."

McCaffrey said that although he sympathized with that view, he did not think
it would be possible to bet Congress and the Clinton administration to agree.

"We should go for what we can achieve," McCaffrey said.

What is possible, he said, is appointing one official based in El Paso,
Texas, to coordinate among federal, state, local and Mexican officials. Each
border crossing post and each of the four states bordering Mexico also
should have coordinators, he said.

McCaffrey spoke at a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee's
subcommittee on drug issues. Despite recent gains in money, manpower and
technology, a large percentage of illegal drugs in America travel over the
southwest border, McCaffrey said.

"We have not yet reached our purpose of significantly reducing the amount of
cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine coming across the border," he
said. Part of the problem is that federal agencies are terrible at sharing
information about drug cartels with other agencies and local police,
McCaffrey said.

Rep. Brain Bilbray, R-San Diego, criticized the practice of returning some
small-time drug smugglers to Mexico without prosecuting them.

"We want to go after the drug kingpins," McCaffrey said, not "a rented dupe." 

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