DEFENDING DYNCORP

Jason Vest's July 3 web-only article, "DynCorp's Drug Problem"--about a
reportedly heroin-laced vial of oil that was linked to DynCorp, an antidrug
contractor working in Colombia--has prompted the following response from
the US embassy in Bogota.

Bogota, Colombia

I hope that the following points will clarify information in the report
titled "DynCorp's Drug Problem."

The author of this report communicated with the Embassy's Press Office via
e-mail on June 19. The Embassy confirmed that in May 2000, Colombian
airport police in Bogota confiscated several aircraft motor oil samples in
which routine testing detected the possible presence of a substance that
could have been heroin in unspecified amounts/concentrations.

Colombian authorities at the Fiscalia (the office of the Federal Prosecutor
General of the Colombian government) subsequently conducted a records check
at the request of the Embassy on these allegations. Although field tests of
engine oil samples from spray aircraft tested positive for the possible
presence of an opiate derivative, a full laboratory test conducted by the
Cuerpo Tecnico de Investigacion (CTI) on May 13, 2000 was negative. The
Fiscalia has advised the Embassy that it closed this case on July 9, 2000.

The Fiscalia provided this information to the Embassy on July 31, 2001.
This additional information should serve to keep you and your readers fully
and accurately informed about the true nature of this allegation against US
personnel working under contract to the United States government in Colombia.

ANNE W. PATTERSON
US Ambassador