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Isn’t it time to declare war on the drug invaders?
Len Bias and Don Rogers died from it, yet it is still everywhere. The current illegal drug trade in the United States is an estimated $110 billion annual business, and 12 million U. S. citizens regularly use cocaine, with 5,000 new cocaine addicts cropping up every day. Sixty percent of all property crime in the United States is committed to fund drug habits.
When every day we are reminded of this constant influx of drugs and their adverse effects on the quality of life and society in the United States, it is high time to declare war on the drug smugglers and use our armed forces to set up a blockade to stop this invasion.
In the next decade, the threat from drugs may be far more serious than any direct military threat from the Soviet Union.
The primary mission of the U. S. armed forces is to defend the United
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States against attack and invasion. Yet during the past ten years, our armed forces have done practically nothing to stop this invasion by sea and air. Like Star Wars, it may be impossible to set up a 100% impenetrable barrier around the United States, but it is feasible to find the assets for a 95%-effective barrier. Right now, there are four agencies trying to stop the massive influx of drugs, with very inadequate assets available for the task. There is the Customs Service out of the Treasury Department, the Coast Guard out of the Transportation Department, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) from the Justice Department, and minimal Navy and Air Force participation from the Defense Department.
Undoubtedly, the first step that must be taken is to set up a drug traffic interdiction “czar”—preferably a hardnosed Coast Guard admiral. All forces from the agencies assigned to combat drugs should report directly to him, except in cases of national emergency. The military forces needed to set up a blockade to stop the drug traffic should also be assigned to the interdiction czar.
For the military to participate directly, the Posse Comitatus Act had to be revised to remove constraints on military involvement in drug traffic interdiction. Under the revised rules, the military can now participate at the request of a federal drug enforcement agency in surveillance and pursuit of vessels and aircraft suspected of smuggling drugs, although actual arrests must be made by Customs, DEA, or Coast Guard personnel.
More prominent citizens are calling for direct military involvement to stop drug supplies. As Mayor Koch of New York City stated in a Washington Post editorial: “Our Navy and Air Force presently have a major presence in the Caribbean and along our nation’s coastline and borders. They should be assigned, at the request of civilian law enforcement authorities, to track down and intercept drug smugglers—the United States remains under siege confronted by a tidal wave of drugs. Let’s use the weapons at hand. Let’s commit the military to the defense of the nation by deploying our armed forces along our borders and on high seas to interdict drugs.”
The President’s Commission on Or ganized Crime has pronounced smuggling a threat to our na‘'onJtaken rity, and still no action has been ^ to commit the military to defen * - country against this invasion.
What military forces are rec^'j'ce. then, to augment the Cust°™^vjoUsly. DEA, and the Coast Guard? Uov> ^ no matter how well these a^nC^ar organized, they cannot win the ^ against drug smugglers on their o with their current forces and p
To fight the war in the air, 3^of. thorized flights over our southern ^ der must be detected, intercepts • g turned back or escorted to approp landing sites. This capability req aS full-time surveillance aircraft, su .
the A,r
the Navy’s E-2C Hawkeyes or - Force’s airborne warning and c° system (AWACS) aircraft. The to modified old P-3A Orions wit ■ 63 radar flown by Customs are P -ng cally worthless. The only early ^ the Customs Service currently re^ is from a few tethered aerostat ra systems on each coast of Fl°n ’ ^
To provide continuous air surw ^ lance coverage from Key West ^ Diego would require five AWA ^ 3 craft on station at all times (assui
300-mile radius coverage by
each air'
craft). The Navy should have t c _ water task from Key West to <-'orj.r0fl1 Christi, and the overland portion ^ ^ Corpus Christi to San Diego sho covered by the Air Force. If f°uaVajl- long-range E-2Cs could be ma Cq0\vn able to augment the eight E-2Cs ^ by the Naval Reserve, this E-2 could handle the eastern portion^ be required surveillance. It would t up to the Air Force, with their than 40 AWACS aircraft, to coV.Coriz0n rest until the projected over-the- surveillance radar to cover our s border is completed. . ve to
The surveillance effort woU^terCept be reinforced by tracking and in ^ 0r aircraft on strip alert stationed at _ more airfields along the southern ^ der. These aircraft preferably s’10 Customs aircraft, although now t ^ obviously have nowhere near the quired number of aircraft, and w have to be augmented by militaj^ craft. Customs officials should 11
all intercepting and tracking airci
raft’
84
Proceedings
/ DeccmW
„i ).n8 ad searches and arrests. Strate- >mn "V ^aced command centers and proved communications would also 06 needed.
be^6 ’ntercePt aircraft’s task should cio ° ln*;erccP'; unidentified or suspi- ]anS a!rcraft picked up by the surveil- [h„.C aircraft, and follow them until
soil Ather turn back or land on u- s-
Coul. 1 this point the intercept aircraft
and th 3nC* behind the suspect aircraft, tbe . e Customs agents could search arraircraft they have been following, AmS ln" the occupants, if required. t|lls°n® ’he military aircraft suitable for Kin m’ss‘on are Falcon jets, Learjets, Coif ^'r and Citation aircraft, and Coptra’ ^Pache, and Black Hawk heli- airc 6fS ^°r successful missions, these and^ 1 Wou'd need air intercept radar orward-looking infrared radar. baSejStorns Service aircraft should be Air M 31 strategically located Air Force, held at'0nai Guard, and Navy air- ProyS 1 ^Urther, the military should help and 6 P'*01 training, and maintenance cludService tor Customs aircraft, into,^11.8 Purchasing spare parts. Cus- aid r lntercePt aircraft should receive Kes r0lTI btavaI Reserve, Air Force RcsCrve< Marine Air Reserve, Army -e, and Air National Guard units binc | ln8 to locations that, when corn- try ’■ w'h form a 24-hour cross-coun- Kcv 'ntorcept capability barrier from y^West to San Diego, be P f Sea harrier against drugs should (; a|orccd by the Navy and the Coast er . • A “Market-Time” type of op- thc '°n s‘milar to that used to seal off USe(jC°ast of South Vietnam could be or 'V|th suitably radar-equipped Navy,
Preferably
frigates;_______________ o
e^ion ships; DEA boats where nec- S|half
and^^^^ly ^aval Reserve, destroyers as „‘?.8ates; Coast Guard cutters acting
ry> Coast Guard patrol craft and/or
nVer
Craft; Naval Reserve inshore and
pe Patrol craft; and the Navy’s six inter****5 ^^M-lj-class hydrofoils to pjCjoCePf> identify, and board any sus- (v Us or unidentified boats or ships. c°nd0rnS °fr'ciais should be on hand to \^h Uct ihe searches and make arrests, bj en n° intercept boats are available, bg ^ Patrol and/or carrier aircraft could anvUSed to identify, turn back, or track ^aspect vessels.
task f tbe ProPer organization under a Uiodt0rCC c°mmander, and with only a and 6St augmentation by military air •he pCa b)rces (mostly reserve units),
Co kust°ms Service, DEA, and the b|()US/ Guard can create a 95% effective •j^akade against the drug invaders.
Orjt IS a uailitary mission requiring pri- y attention from U. S. leaders.
l,ngs / December 1986
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