THE BATTLE AGAINST NARCOTICS

Peru Jet's Action Turns Attention To Procedures

WASHINGTON -- The Peruvian air force's deadly attack on a small plane
carrying U.S. 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 drug smugglers.

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

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the United States was not seeking
to blame anyone for what he called an "isolated incident" in the drug
interdiction program.

"The president's not interested in assigning blame. The president is
interested in making certain that we don't let it happen again," he said.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher acknowledged that a CIA air
surveillance crew flying near the missionary plane Friday 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
(Roni) Bowers and her 7-month-old daughter, Charity, but spokesman Cmdr.
Rommel Roca said the necessary procedures were followed when the plane was
intercepted.

The air-interdiction policy originated in 1994, when Congress pressured
President Bill Clinton's administration to stem the flow of drugs from
Latin America. The policy included authority to shoot down drug smugglers,
and it insulated U.S. forces from liability in 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, 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 one U.S. official who reviewed the videotape
and spoke on condition he not be identified.

He said the CIA surveillance team is heard questioning the Peruvians'
decision to attack the aircraft because it did not fit the profile of a
drug-smuggling plane. "The plane was flying straight and level," said the
official. "There were no evasion tactics."

The videotape also shows that the Peruvians omitted 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 surveillance
flights to detect and interdict narcotics-smuggling aircraft over the
Caribbean, Central America and the Andean drug-producing region.

But the U.S. 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 narco-traffickers, the U.S. official said.

The aircraft, which are unmarked, are owned by the Pentagon and operated by
employees of a private firm contracted by the CIA, said the official. He
would not 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.

Procedures established by U.S. and Peruvian authorities governed when a
suspect plane could be shot down.

Graham, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee,
said Monday that the panel would "try to understand just what happened and
see if a change in policy would be appropriate."