CONSERVATIVE PICKED AS NEXT DRUG CHIEF

WASHINGTON -- President Bush plans to name John P. Walters, a
conservative who was harshly critical of the Clinton administration's
efforts against illegal narcotics, as the new drug czar, officials
said Wednesday.

Walters, who was the top deputy to William J. Bennett, the drug czar
in the last Bush administration, shares Bennett's emphasis on publicly
stigmatizing drugs at home while mobilizing considerable resources --
including the U.S. military -- against narcotics producers abroad.

Walters favors severe prison sentences for violent felons, marijuana
smugglers and repeat offenders, but he views first-time drug users
more leniently. He criticized a recommendation by the U.S. Sentencing
Commission in 1995 to significantly reduce sentences for crack cocaine
dealers.

The nomination, which officials said is imminent, comes as the Bush
administration struggles to maintain cooperation with important
drug-producing allies in Latin America.

The United States this week suspended intelligence-sharing with the
Peruvian air force pending an inquiry into Peru's downing of an
unarmed plane carrying a family of American missionaries.
Administration officials, moreover, are seeking to win the support of
other South American nations that have voiced concerns about
American-backed military buildup in Colombia.

If confirmed, Walters will succeed Barry McCaffrey, a retired general
who sought to reduce the level of confrontation with drug-exporting
nations and spearheaded an advertising campaign aimed at convincing
American youth that drugs ruin lives.

As the new chief at the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy, Walters, 49, would oversee a staff of more than 150 and a
budget -- including grant programs -- that amounts to nearly a
half-billion dollars, officials said.

Walters' background as a chief of enforcement and supply reduction in
the last Bush administration has raised the concerns of some that he
will not focus enough on treatment and prevention.