PERUVIANS DIDN'T FOLLOW PROCEDURES, U.S. SAYS

WASHINGTON - The Peruvian air force's attack on a small plane
carrying American missionaries focused attention Monday on how U.S.
intelligence and Peru's military coordinate their fight against
narcotics trafficking.

U.S. authorities said Monday that the Peruvians failed to follow
routine procedures, while they exonerated the CIA surveillance crew
that misidentified the missionary plane as carrying suspected drug
smugglers. A Baptist missionary and her 7-month-old daughter were
killed Friday when a Peruvian fighter jet strafed the small aircraft.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who has led previous inquiries into U.S.
anti-drug policy overseas, was planning to call for a congressional
investigation of the incident, aides said. Meanwhile, the United
States suspended the CIA surveillance program immediately, and Peru
suspended its interdiction flights.

``We've got to review the entire program,'' Secretary of State Colin
Powell told PBS's ``The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer.''

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher acknowledged that a CIA air
surveillance crew flying in the vicinity of the missionary plane
notified the Peruvian air force that the plane might be smuggling
narcotics. But, he added, ``there are certainly indications that some
of our folks -- that our folks on the plane were trying to hold the
Peruvians back from taking action in this case.''

The Peruvian air force said Monday that it regretted the deaths of
Veronica Bowers and her daughter, but spokesman Cmdr. Rommel Roca said
the necessary procedures were followed when the plane was
intercepted.

Policy started in 1994

The air-interdiction policy originated in 1994, when Congress
pressured the Clinton administration to stem the flow of drugs from
Latin America. The policy included the authority to shoot down drug
smugglers, and it insulated U.S. forces from liability in the case of
an accidental shooting.

``The United States would not be held liable if there was a shoot-down
preceded by steps that were set out -- a series of communications and
warnings,'' said Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., who supported the measure as
``an important part of our effort against drugs.''

The Bush administration's version of the mishap is based on a
videotape and soundtrack recorded by the U.S. surveillance plane, a
Cessna Citation executive jet packed with surveillance equipment,
officials said.

``It's a bit confusing because it was multiple conversations, radio
transmissions from different people. Many of them step on each other.
A lot of it was in Spanish,'' said a U.S. official who reviewed the
videotape and spoke on condition he not be identified.

But, he added, the United States ``would not be speaking so
authoritatively at this point'' if experts had not been able to
discern what happened from the videotape.

He said the CIA contract employees are heard questioning the
Peruvians' decision to attack the aircraft, because it did not fit the
profile of a drug-smuggling plane.

``Our guys were concerned because the profile just didn't fit for
them,'' said the official. ``The plane was flying straight and level.
There were no evasion tactics.''

Procedure rushed

The videotape also shows that the Peruvians omitted or ``truncated''
various parts of the procedure that are designed to avoid the downing
of civilian aircraft, he said.

``There doesn't seem to be a part where they are flying alongside,
making hand gestures and wagging their wings,'' said the official.
``We're not even sure that warning shots were fired.''

The U.S. military, Coast Guard and Customs Service operate numerous
surveillance flights to detect and interdict narcotics-smuggling
aircraft over the Caribbean, Central America and the Andean
drug-producing region.

But the U.S. surveillance plane that tracked the missionaries was part
of a classified program jointly run by the Pentagon and the Central
Intelligence Agency. It is designed to maintain a low profile to
protect the crews from being targeted by narcotic-traffickers, the
U.S. official said.

Pentagon owns planes

The aircraft, which are unmarked, are owned by the Pentagon and
operated by employees of a private company contracted by the CIA, the
official said. He declined to identify the company.

Since March 1995, the Peruvians have ``shot, forced down or strafed''
more than 30 aircraft suspected of carrying drug traffickers and have
seized more than a dozen on the ground, according to U.S. intelligence
officials. In July 2000, an alleged trafficker was shot down, and in
December 2000 two planes were forced to land.