FIGHTING ILLEGAL DRUGS: ROLE OF ARMED FORCES IS LIMITED

In recent years some have asked why greater use cannot be made of the armed
forces in turning back the flood of illicit narcotics threatening to swamp
this nation.

In fact, from 1989 to 1997 members of the United States Atlantic Command
played a significant part in the government's effort to stem the flow of
illegal drugs across the Caribbean and into this country.

Acting to support civilian law-enforcement authorities, they have provided
exceptional tracking, communications, and logistic assistance for the
politically mandated effort that ensued.

American law limits the armed forces in law enforcement. The Posse
Comitatus Act of 1878 restricts the military in this field within our
borders; the armed forces may enforce the law only when civil authorities
are unable or unwilling to do so. If, as the result of emergency or
disaster, a situation deteriorates to the point that federal military
forces are required to maintain order, a presidential declaration is
required before troops can be used.

The act, which applies on its face to only the Army and the Air Force, has
been extended by administrative action to include the Navy and the Marine
Corps. The only armed force exempted from Posse Comitatus is the Coast
Guard. Then a part of the Treasury Department, it served well in
Prohibition enforcement between 1920 and 1933. In so doing, it pursued its
historic function - suppression of smuggling - a thankless task in which
its performance was hampered by deep-seated public resistance. Today, as
part of the Transportation Department, it has both military
responsibilities and maritime law-enforcement duties on the high seas.

Atlantic Command's New Tasks

At the time that its members began to assist law-enforcement authorities in
the counterdrug effort, the Atlantic Command's structure and way of doing
business began to change.

Today it is not a maritime-oriented command but has wider tasks such as
training and providing forces to other unified commanders worldwide.

The change did not alter the supporting role of the armed forces in the
counterdrug effort. Colonel William Parrish of the Marine Corps put it
best: "We were hired to give law enforcement officers information, not win
the war." Congress assigned the military the task of detecting and
monitoring water-borne and airborne craft.

Armed forces people could not, and cannot today, participate in
interdiction and apprehension - known colloquially as "the bust."

Much changed, and by 1991 splendid progress had been made whereby the
several branches of the military worked in tandem among themselves and with
civilian authorities. For instance, no longer could traffickers land and
unload drugs with impunity in South Florida and the Bahamas. An overriding
problem, noted by a former commander of the Coast Guard's Atlantic area,
was - and is - that it is terribly hard to measure effectiveness, for one
never can be certain about how much has been shipped versus how much has
been interdicted.

By 1994 an entity known as a Joint Interagency Task Force was created. In
part, its formation was a response to congressional observations that
commendable as the armed forces assistance had been, there still was an
abundant supply of illegal drugs on the streets of America. The director of
this new hybrid organization was to have operational command authority over
assigned forces irrespective of agency.

This organization has become increasingly effective, particularly with
international cooperation.

Help From Other Nations

The Dutch have contributed maritime and air forces at Curacao; the British
have done likewise at Key West. Overflight arrangements exist with all the
Caribbean nations except Cuba - and even the Cubans have returned for
prosecution those traffickers whose craft have drifted into its territorial
waters.

Some countries have permitted the establishment of radar surveillance sites
on their territory.

Atlantic Command participation provided support for civilian law
enforcement agencies with oversight of counterdrug operations provided by
law enforcement agencies - generally the Coast Guard. Detection was chiefly
by radar surveillance with visual identification provided by military aircraft.

The challenge is that the distinction between (a) detection and monitoring
and (b) interdiction and apprehension is inexact.

It requires those involved and us as citizens to understand federal law and
presidential direction.

Navy ships, whose crews may not legally participate in "the bust," may well
provide and operate ships and planes for law-enforcement authorities -
civilian or, in the case of the Coast Guard, military.

The risk arises because military forces, with the exception of the Coast
Guard, are not generally trained in law enforcement. Even in cases in which
its helicopters are used to pursue and disable "go fast" boats, Coast Guard
aviators have complained that being used in this way diminishes their
"lifesaver" image, though they have accepted this as necessary to slow the
flow of harmful drugs.

Atlantic Command support of the effort has been robust, and in fiscal 1999
the Coast Guard interdicted illegal narcotics with a street value nearly
equaling its operating budget.

Transforming the Drug War

Many now wonder how to proceed.

Use of the military was sought - by such figures as former Mayor Ed Koch of
New York City - and advanced in recognition of the superior support
capability of the armed forces. The "Drug War" was transformed in the
mid-1990s by political and military leaders' realization that the problem
was more complex than originally thought.

Indeed, in current Defense Department directives and instructions governing
the effort, abandoning "war" analogies in describing the support has been
stressed.

Constitutional inhibitions do not, and ought not, prevent military
participation in such an enterprise. The question is how that effort should
be applied.

There are areas in which the armed forces can, and have, provided support
such as locating and identifying traffickers' craft and carrying
law-enforcement people to the places where they can apprehend suspects, but
- - except in the case of the Coast Guard - the armed forces cannot perform
those functions.

The records of its involvement with Prohibition, its accomplishments in the
current effort, and its historic role in the suppression of smuggling
suggest the military has been a strong partner in a daunting task. Because
of present proper legal restrictions, it may not be able to expand its role.