U.S. SUSPENDS DRUG SURVEILLANCE OVER COLOMBIA

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has suspended its aerial
drug interception program over Colombia since the mistaken attack on
a U.S. missionary plane flying over Peru on Friday, the State
Department said on Wednesday.

The United State suspended the aerial surveillance program over Peru
last week after a Peruvian Air Force plane shot at the missionaries
in their small plane over eastern Peru, killing an American woman and
her child.

``The intercept program has been suspended also in Colombia,'' State
Department spokesman Philip Reeker told his daily briefing.

``We have a variety of programs as part of our overall
counternarcotics support with countries ... in the region, but
pending this investigation we suspend that aspect of these programs,
that special aerial intercept program,'' he added.

Under the Peruvian program, personnel contracted by the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency (news - web sites) fly over the country,
monitoring flights by small planes that might be carrying cocaine.
When they find a suspect plane, they give the details to Peruvian
authorities.

Over Colombia, planes manned by U.S. personnel and paid for with U.S.
government money perform a similar function.

A spokesman for SOUTHCOM, the U.S. military headquarters responsible
for surveillance flights from Ecuador, Curacao and El Salvador, said
its operations were not affected.

``The military counterdrug operations in the SOUTHCOM area of
responsibility are routine and ongoing,'' said spokesman Steve Lucas
at SOUTHCOM headquarters in Miami.

While it may own the aircraft, the Pentagon (news - web sites) is not
involved in running the flights carried out by the CIA (news - web
sites) with contracted personnel in Peru and Colombia.

A U.S. official, who asked not to be named, said the difference was
that in the case of operations out of Ecuador, El Salvador and
Curacao, the local air forces do not have the authority to shoot down
suspect planes.

No Speculation On Effect Of Suspension

Reeker declined to speculate on the effect the suspension would have
on drug interdiction efforts in Colombia, the world's biggest
producer of cocaine and the focus of a massive U.S. aid program to
combat the drugs trade.

In the case of Peru, U.S. officials have said aerial surveillance is
only one aspect of the drug interception effort, which continues on
the ground and on rivers.

The United States plans to send an investigation team to Peru to find
out what went wrong. But Reeker said Washington had not yet named the
members or decided when they should go.

U.S. officials have blamed the Peruvian Air Force for the mishap with
the missionary flight, saying the CIA contractors on the tracking
plane tried to restrain them.

The three Americans operating the surveillance flight were not
required to be fluent in Spanish and their skills were limited in
that language, while the Peruvian liaison officer was required to be
bilingual, a CIA spokesman said.

``They had limited Spanish capability,'' he said.

``However, one of the roles of the Peruvian Air Force officer who
flies on the aircraft is he serves as a communications bridge between
the American crew and Peruvians on the ground and in the air,'' the
CIA spokesman said. ``That officer is supposed to be bilingual and
their language capabilities are tested periodically.''