DRUG ADMINISTRATOR ENCOURAGED BY MEXICO'S COOPERATION

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Donnie Marshall, the outgoing administrator of the Drug
Enforcement Administration, says he is confident that the new Vicente Fox
administration in Mexico is moving in the right direction, but that the
country "still has a long way to go" before it cracks the drug cartels.

In an interview, the veteran DEA official said the United States and Mexico
must improve their "top level" cooperation to ensure the kind of
relationship necessary to overcome the notorious drug traffickers.

Marshall characterized as significant the extradition of a top cartel
leader from Mexico to face criminal charges in San Diego.

He was cautiously optimistic about the prospects for more immediate
extraditions, saying there are dozens of cases before the Mexican courts
that will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

"The significance of this is that it has been done and we know under the
right circumstances, it can be done," Marshall said, referring to last
week's extradition of Arturo "Kitty" Paez Martinez, a top leader of the
Arellano-Felix cartel of Tijuana.

"The Fox administration is trying to do more of it," Marshall said of
Mexico's new president, who has vowed a crackdown on the major drug
traffickers.

"The (Mexican) Supreme Court allowed it to be done once, so I'm hoping, and
I believe it will happen more," Marshall said of the extradition. "We've
always felt it was the most important step in breaking that cycle of
corruption and intimidation."

Marshall, a 30-year DEA veteran, who was acting director and then director
the past three years during the Clinton administration, this week announced
he would resign within the next few months.

Marshall said Mexico's new administration and U.S. officials are working to
improve high-level relationships to combat the drug cartels.

"I talked to (Mexican officials) and we all agree where we need to go. We
have the person-to-person, the unit-to-unit relationship (among agents and
police officials)," said Marshall. "The goal is to get to a higher level.
So far it's been evolutionary."

Marshall's comments reflect concerns of other American and Mexican
officials, who have criticized both countries for their failure to carry
out an adequate game plan to stop the traffickers.

As part of that effort, Fox has proposed improved access for U.S.
law-enforcement officials to help conduct security checks on Mexican police
officials, known in anti-drug parlance as "vetting."

"There has been vetting going on for several years," Marshall said, "but
Mexico has increased that vetting and has set up a center for it."

Generally, Mexico "still has a long way to go" before it fulfills Fox's
plan to overcome the cartels, Marshall said. "But they have the people in
top levels, who are no doubt committed to solving the problem."