BEWARE OF THE NEW NARCO-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

What's behind Washington's huge, expensive military intervention to combat
drugs in Colombia?

Recently, the actions of the House Republican leadership suggested one
possible answer: procurement. Congress, it appears, wants to help American
defense firms sell helicopters for use in Colombia -- and to obtain the
prices they want for these copters.

This is not all that unusual. In fact, it's a classic example of how
Congress sometimes works harder for private defense contractors than for
taxpayers.

Last summer, the Clinton administration and Congress approved the $1.3
billion Plan Colombia, a package of aid (most of it military) designed to
bolster the Bogota government's efforts to eradicate drugs and to combat
traffickers.

On Sept. 21, the House International Relations subcommittee on the Western
Hemisphere summoned representatives of the State and Defense departments to
a hearing on the progress of Plan Colombia.

The executive branch officials came armed with facts and figures on the
details of the program.

But they had barely started before Rep. Doug Bereuter, R-Neb., made plain
what the Republican leadership cared most about: concluding a deal for the
use of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.' s Black Hawk helicopters in Colombia.

Ordinarily, Bereuter wouldn't even have attended this hearing, because he
isn't a member of the subcommittee. But he announced that he had come at the
"personal request" of House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

Hastert, he said, was dismayed that it was taking too long for Sikorsky to
obtain a contract for its Black Hawks.

The Republican leadership wanted to know why there had been so many delays.
Congress had approved the purchase of 18 Black Hawk helicopters, but U.S.
officials had subsequently said they might buy a lower number. Sikorsky was
willing to sell 16 Black Hawks for $234 million, Bereuter said.

What was going on here? At first, it seemed as though the Republicans might
be concerned only about speeding up Plan Colombia. The record shows that
Hastert, to his credit, has taken a personal interest in the issue of
stopping drugs for years, even before he became the House speaker.

Still, Bereuter persisted, growing more and more specific. "The Sikorsky
offer still stands, $234 million for 16 Black Hawks," he told the executive
branch officials. "Is that an understanding?"

Finally, Rand Beers, assistant secretary of State for narcotics programs,
pointed to the underlying issue: In the original Plan Colombia, $234 million
was supposed to purchase 18 Black Hawks, and now Sikorsky seemed to be
proposing to supply 16 helicopters for that same $234 million.

"Sikorsky is giving you a number for a lower number of helicopters, and
that's not our objective," Beers said.

In short, the dispute wasn't just about timing, but also about price. And
the House Republican leadership seemed to be weighing in on Sikorsky's side
in its contract negotiations with the Pentagon.

The point here is not that Republican lawmakers behave differently than the
Democrats. In Congress, being solicitous of defense contractors is a
bipartisan cause.

Sikorsky is located in Connecticut. Earlier this year, Connecticut's two
Democratic senators, Joseph I. Lieberman and Christopher J. Dodd, both
pushed hard for Sikorsky to win congressional approval for the use of Black
Hawks in Colombia.

In the wake of the end of the Cold War, American companies have been eager
to find new sorts of missions for which they can supply planes and
helicopters. The drug war in Colombia is one such effort.

Nearly four decades ago, in January 1961, President Eisenhower warned in his
farewell address about the influence of what he famously called the
"military-industrial complex."

What we're witnessing now is something new. It's the emergence of a
narco-industrial complex -- a proliferation of U.S. companies lining up,
with congressional support, to obtain public money for antidrug campaigns
overseas.

Beware.