DRUG CZAR WANTS TESTING OF AMERICANS HANDED OVER TO U.S. ANTI-DOPING AGENCY

ARLINGTON, Va. -- In the wake of allegations that the USOC has been
coddling dopers, the White House's drug policy boss wants the
fledgling U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to immediately take over drug
testing of American athletes bound for the Sydney Games.

But U.S. Olympic Committee officials doubt there is enough time before
the flame is lit in September to transfer administration of the
program from the Drug Control Administration, a branch of the USOC.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, said that turning over the program to the independent U.S.
Anti-Doping Agency would ease athletes' concerns over the
trustworthiness of the Drug Control Administration, which recently has
been rocked by allegations of systematically covering up positive drug
tests.

"One could argue that USADA ought to step up and get directly involved
now, pre-Sydney," McCaffrey told leaders of amateur, Olympic and
professional sport during a symposium Monday on performance-enhancing
drugs. "Given recent developments, we need to transfer responsibility
for U.S. anti-doping now, not later. We owe it to our athletes and the
world to unquestionably run clean at Sydney."

This month, charges and counter-charges have been flying over the
USOC's commitment to weeding out athletes who cheat by using
performance-enhancing drugs. Wade Exum, who directed the USOC Drug
Control Administration for much of the past decade, resigned June 5
and charged, among other things, that USOC bosses did not punish as
many as half of all American athletes who tested positive for banned
substances in recent years.

"Dr. Exum's allegations that we encouraged athletes to dope and we
were not serious about catching dopers are simply not true," said
Scott Blackmun, USOC senior managing director of sports resources.
"When he first raised these issues, I hired outside counsel last year
to take alook at it and they came back and said there really wasn't
anything there. Despite our best efforts, we cannot find anything that
is broken."

Exum's attorney, Beth Kelly of Denver, said evidence supporting the
former USOC drug chief's claims would come forward when his lawsuit
against the USOC is filed the week of July 17. The suit also will
demonstrate Exum's contention that USADA is not truly independent of
the USOC.

"The USADA concern will be part of the complaint, that it is not as
independent as the USOC is claiming it to be," said Kelly. "The facts
will come out as part of the judicial process, which we believe is the
appropriate forum."

Blackmun said the Drug Control Administration is willing to transfer
the authority to drug test American athletes heading to Sydney if
USADA is prepared to undertake the task. But he questioned whether
USADA -- which has only two employees and is still in its formative
stages -- could effectively take the reins with only two months before
the Summer Games.

"I don't want to do anything to make our doping program any less
effective between now and Sydney," said Blackmun. "We've got crew
chiefs lined up and people in place for the Olympic trials, where most
of the athletes going to Sydney get tested, and it would be very
difficult from a logistical standpoint to make that transition, but we
will do everything in our power if they're ready."

USADA CEO Terry Madden did not hear McCaffrey's comments and couldn't
be reached for comment late Monday. But earlier in the day, Madden
said he plans to have USADA operational by Oct. 1 and that the agency
will be independent of USOC.

"We are going to protect the athlete's health but we will not rest
until we catch the cheaters," said Madden, a former USOC executive.

McCaffrey said he will push to empower USADA with "quasi-governmental
authority" to broaden its efforts beyond the Olympic team, to possibly
be a sports drug-testing clearinghouse for high school, collegiate and
professional sports. The drug czar also wants USADA to join the
International Anti-Doping Association and to add a federal
representative to USADA's board of directors, to help insure
transparency and accountability.

If USADA can't be brought up to speed in time for the pre-Sydney
drug-testing of American athletes, McCaffrey expects the new agency to
be in full control of U.S. anti-doping efforts by the Winter Olympics
in 2002.