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On 9 March 1990, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced its long-awaited antidrug-spending plan for the next two years. The new budget did not unveil any major new initiatives, but this reveals something about the state of our nation’s drug war. First, the facts:
► Two billion dollars over the next two years ($877 million this fiscal year and $1.2 billion in fiscal year 1991)
► Increased air surveillance flights concentrating on the Caribbean ► Completion of the U.S. southern aerostat radar fence by 1992 ► DoD training programs for law enforcement officials in South America ► Expansion of DoD’s detection and monitoring role in the Pacific The press release that preceded DoD budget hearings pointed up several political realities that have come to define the limits of DoD involvement in the drug war. Pentagon officials said the plan was “more of the same.” This lack of major new initiatives underscores the political sensitivity of using U.S. defense troops in two important areas: Latin America and within U.S. borders.
Excessive DoD presence in Latin America is a politically charged issue. Recalling a long history of U.S. intervention in countries such as Nicaragua, Mexico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, many Latin American countries vehemently criticized Operation Just Cause in Panama last December.
A few weeks after the U.S. invasion of Panama, plans for the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) carrier task force deployment off Colombia were scrubbed after President Virgilio Barco Vargas complained that his administration had not been consulted. The carrier was to operate only on the high seas (beyond Colombian territorial waters), and therefore Colombian permission per se was not required. But with cries of U.S. jingoism from various Latin American countries and the February antidrug summit in Cartagena on the horizon, the White House was forced to acquiesce, and President George Bush personally called President Barco to allay any concerns.
As a result of this international exercise, some de facto ground rules seem
The Department of Justice ruling that okayed Operation Just Cause in Panama opened the door to give DoD arrest authority in the drug war.
to have been established that will limit future DoD initiatives within Latin America’s sphere of influence. The status quo nature of this latest DoD spending plan seems to at least acknowledge the existence of these limitations. All future DoD initiatives in South and Central America will have to be carefully formulated and perhaps even sold to Latin American leaders before being publicly announced.
The other politically sensitive area for DoD concerns the extent of its involvement in the drug war. Many in the Congress are concerned that the Defense Department not become a law enforcement agency. Should soldiers and sailors also be policemen? The debate has ardent supporters on both sides. At issue is the repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act that prohibits DoD personnel from making arrests within the borders of the United States. The U.S. Coast Guard is currently the only U.S. armed service with law- enforcement authority to arrest drug smugglers. Some argue that, in order to assimilate DoD effectively into the overall U.S. drug-fighting effort, it should also be given arrest authority. Others counter, just as strongly, that the separation of our military defense function from law enforcement is a concept that has served our nation well since the Civil War and is a principle that should be maintained. The Congress will ultimately decide this issue. But last November, during the planning
stages for Operation Just Cause, the Department of Justice concluded that DoD officials could take law enforcement actions outside the United States (e.g., arrest General Manuel Noriega in Panama). This legal interpretation left the door wide open to grant DoD arrest authority under certain circumstances.
The timing of the spending plan announcement (i.e., amid congressional budget hearings) and the numbers within the plan also convey a message: DoD is serious about supporting the U.S. antidrug effort. When DoD was designated the new lead agency for detection and monitoring in the fiscal year 1989 Defense Authorization Act, it was authorized (directed) to spend $300 million on antidrug support.
Many in the Congress made it clear that they considered the $300 million mark to be merely a starting point and that DoD (with an overall budget 1,000 times that amount) was expected to increase its future antidrug spending. Initially, DoD resisted, and only modest increases were expected. Then the dramatic events in Eastern Europe began to unfold. DoD anticipated close congressional scrutiny of its fiscal year “war-fighting” budget and its corresponding justification. DoD’s revised fiscal year antidrug-spending estimate of $877 million is a significant increase over last year, and it illustrates that many Pentagon officials have come to embrace the new peacetime drug-fighting mission.
However, the $1.2 billion funding request for next year shows that DoD (the new kid on the block) is fast becoming the kid with the most drugfighting toys—perhaps an overwhelming amount. An eager DoD is quickly outspending traditional drug law- enforcement agencies. The question now is whether the role of the Congress and the administration should be one of regulating the flow of DoD resources in order to ensure a well-coordinated U.S. antidrug effort and to protect delicate international relationships with Latin American countries. These same Latin American countries will be crucial to waging an effective international drug-interdiction campaign.
Proceedings / Naval Review 1990