ACCESSION NUMBER:310941
FILE ID:LEF415
DATE:11/04/93
TITLE:ANTIDRUG EFFORTS INTRINSIC PART OF U.S. FOREIGN POLICY (11/04/93)
TEXT:*93110415.LEF
*LEF415 11/04/93
ANTIDRUG EFFORTS INTRINSIC PART OF U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
(Corrected version of Lef412 of 11/04/93) (660)
(With Lsi411 of 11/04/93)
By Norma Romano-Benner
USIA Staff Writer
NOTE: The following corrects Lef412 of 11/04/93, adding Lee Brown's title in
the fourth graf. The Spanish version (Lsi411 of 11/04/93) is correct.
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton has outlined his administration's
international counternarcotics efforts in a classified policy document that
emphasizes U.S. assistance to drug-producing countries.
The Presidential Decision Directive for International Counternarcotics,
which Clinton signed Nov. 3, calls the operation of international criminal
narcotics syndicates "a national security threat requiring an extraordinary
and coordinated response by civilian and military agencies, both
unilaterally and by mobilizing international cooperation with other nations
1nd international organizations."
The directive is the result of an exhaustive eight-month review of U.S.
international antidrug policies and strategies. It instructs federal
agencies to "change the emphasis in U.S. international drug programs from
the past concentration largely on stopping narcotics shipments to a more
evenly distributed effort."
Shortly after the president signed the directive, White House drug policy
director Lee Brown told a House panel the new antidrug policy "will require
an extraordinary coordination by civilian and military agencies engaged in
national security affairs."
Brown said Clinton is "fully committed" to the war on drugs and determined
to "concentrate on those programs that work and eliminate those that do
not."
"Our international strategy will accomplish these objectives," Brown said.
"The president has made it clear to me that he wants to support those
countries that demonstrate the political will to tackle the drug
trafficking problem," he told the House subcommittee on international
security, international organizations, and human rights.
Brown said the antidrug policy will not focus exclusively on interdiction,
because "nearly a decade of experience has taught us that interdiction is
not a silver bullet.
"It is clear from our review," he said, "that all our international programs
-- interdiction, crop control, intelligence, alternative development,
judicial reform, and law enforcement -- are interdependent and mutually
supportive endeavors that need to be advanced as an entity, rather than a
collection of seemingly disparate individual programs."
Brown explained that an interim antidrug strategy he presented to Congress
Oct. 20 focuses interdiction efforts in drug-producing countries. He said
the strategy, the final version of which will be ready by Feb. 1, will
de-emphasize law enforcement efforts in transit nations because drug
traffickers are constantly changing their smuggling patterns.
"Changes in cocaine production have made traffickers and their operations
more vulnerable in the source countries," Brown noted, "so we are
concentrating our resources there."
He said he anticipates that reduced U.S. efforts in the transit regions
"will help finance expanded efforts in the source countries."
Brown noted that the Defense Department announced Oct. 28 it will redirect
its counterdrug program to "emphasize support to nations battling cocaine
cultivation and processing while shifting away from transit zone
interdiction."
He said expanded intelligence collection and analysis "will target the
cocaine cartels."
The Clinton administration, said Brown, views counternarcotics efforts as an
integral part of U.S. foreign policy, "and must be pursued with the same
long-term, worldwide commitment that the United States devotes to the
promotion of democracy and economic advancement."
Brown reiterated the U.S. commitment to work closely with the Organization
of American States (OAS) and its Inter-American Drug Abuse Control
Commission (CICAD), the United Nations, and other international bodies to
fight drugs worldwide.
"The strategy," he said, "will give increased emphasis to prodding
international financial institutions to revise their policies to reflect
1he threat posed by drugs and expand the pool of resources available to
international narcotics control activities."
He said U.S. policy will "look at goals such as dismantling major
trafficking organizations, strengthening judicial capability, promoting
sustained economic growth, and participating in multilateral law
enforcement efforts."
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