DRUG PROGRAM MOVING TO EL PASO

Authorities On Border Fear More Bureaucracy

EL PASO -- A plan by the nation's top anti-drug official to relocatea
multi-agency funding program from San Diego to El Paso is being met with
harsh criticism from law enforcement authorities along the border who view
the move as an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.

"There are a lot of upset people all along the border," said El Paso County
Sheriff Leo Samaniego "It's a bureaucratic level that we could all live
without."

Photo by Christ Chavez / Special to DMN From left: Barry McCaffrey meets
with Chihuahua, Mexico, Gov. Patricio Martinez and Ciudad Ju=C3=A1rez Mayor
Gustavo Elizondo.

During a two-day visit to El Paso that ended Friday, Barry McCaffrey,
director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, told
the heads of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies that El Paso
soon will be the new home of the Southwest Border High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Areas headquarters, a multimillion-dollar program to combat
drug trafficking.

"We now have organized intelligence to support the counter-drug mission,"
Mr. McCaffrey said.

The move is necessary to support an abundant source of drug intelligence
efforts and improve drug enforcement coordination, Mr. McCaffrey said.

While law enforcement authorities agree that El Paso is a major entry point
for drugs, setting up an office that already is viewed by some as
inefficient will only make funding accessibility more complicated, the
sheriff and other area law enforcement officials said. Although most won't
speak publicly about it, they view the new plan with skepticism.

The HIDTA program provides federal funds to areas that exhibit serious
drug-trafficking problems.

"El Paso is probably the leading entry point of illegal drugs into the
United States, but that office isn't going to do a single thing," said
Sheriff Samaniego, who also serves as chairman of the Southwest Border
HIDTA executive committee. "We're doing great with the initiatives we all
have. I don't think we've ever had any better communication and coordination."

In addition to local law enforcement, El Paso also supports offices for the
DEA, FBI, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Customs, Joint Task Force Six, the El
Paso Intelligence Center and other agencies with efforts dedicated to
curbing narcotics trafficking.

The Southwest Border HIDTA was established in 1990 as one of five funding
resources for various regions in South Texas, West Texas, New Mexico,
Arizona and California. Those involved with the program recently voted to
dismantle the San Diego headquarters so that each region could apply for
its own funding for programs as opposed to going through the San Diego office,

Sheriff Samaniego said he and others believe that the San Diego unit had
become a "self-appointed czar on the border" that did not fulfill its
obligation to the various regions. He said relations between various El
Paso-area drug-fighting agencies has already improved in recent months, and
he fears that consensus-building could deteriorate.

The reorganization plan announced by Mr. McCaffrey calls for "a unification
strategy and a coordinated HIDTA budget for the entire Southwest Border area."

That will dilute efforts already underway, critics said.

"Everybody's got different needs. We're battling different trends,
different problems," said Sheriff Samaniego.

It is not clear when the relocation to El Paso will occur, how many staff
members the headquarters will have or where it will be located.

The Southwest border has been a strong focus of drug-control efforts, with
massive increases in funding and staffing in recent years. Funding is
expected to increase by 48 percent to more than $892 million by next year.
The number of Border Patrol agents also is expected to multiply to nearly
8,400.

Mr. McCaffrey said the goal of the reorganization plan is to increase the
number of drug busts through coordinated efforts. But critics say joint
operations already are done through relationships that have been carefully
established and have taken time to flourish.

"Is what we already have established enough? No, it's not enough," said
Robert Castillo, special agent in charge of the DEA in El Paso. "We have to
be innovative. But whether or not this is the answer, we just don't know."