BUSH EXPECTED TO NAME DEA HEAD, DRUG CZAR THIS WEEK

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush is expected this week to
nominate Rep. Asa Hutchinson, an Arkansas Republican, to head the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), government sources said on Tuesday.

The sources, who asked not to be named, said Bush was also expected to
tap John Walters, a law and order conservative, to serve as his ``drug
czar'' in charge of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy.

Hutchinson is best known as one of the ``managers'' who made the case
for seeking to remove former President Bill Clinton from office in
1998, leading to the House of Representatives approving two articles
of impeachment against the Democrat. Clinton was subsequently
acquitted by the U.S. Senate in February 1999.

If confirmed as DEA administrator by the U.S. Senate, Hutchinson would
lead the agency under the U.S. Justice Department that has prime
responsibility for fighting the illegal drug trade in the United States.

Hutchinson served as city attorney in his hometown of Bentonville,
Arkansas, as a U.S. Attorney in Fort Smith and as a private lawyer
before he was elected to the House in 1996.

Walters, whose choice is also subject to Senate approval, was a top
aide to William Bennett, drug czar under former President George Bush.
If confirmed, he is likely to be the president's point man on federal
anti-narcotic programs as well as on cooperation with other nations on
anti-drug efforts.