TROUBLED WATERS FOR COAST GUARD

Jayson Spiegel's column " 'Semi Paratus' " (Op-Ed, May 12) offers an
excellent review of the Coast Guard's plight as it struggles to balance an
increase in missions with a decrease in capabilities. Nowhere is that more
apparent than in the war on drugs.

Ironically, the Clinton administration and Congress will debate giving more
than a billion dollars and military equipment to Colombia to improve that
nation's drug-interdiction efforts on one end of the drug pipeline, while
our own Coast Guard is forced to work with obsolete gear at the American end.

Meanwhile, drug runners invest vast sums of money in equipment and weapons,
all designed to elude or overpower the Coast Guard.

To Mr. Spiegel's enumeration of the Coast Guard's financial woes should be
added this note, which highlights the return America gets on its investment
in the Coast Guard: In 1999 alone, the service seized more than $4 billion
in drugs, a total that represents more than the Coast Guard's entire annual
budget.

Fortunately, the shortcomings caused by the Coast Guard's shoddy equipment
and degraded capabilities have been noticed by lawmakers, but the Coast
Guard needs and deserves a firm commitment from the White House and
Congress to ensure it remains capable for years to come.

Phillip Thompson, Senior fellow, Lexington Institute, Arlington