WIFE SAYS DRUG FIGHTER KNEW OF HER ADDICTION

Washington - The wife of the former commander of the U.S. Army's anti-drug
operation in Colombia says before they moved to Bogota she once used
cocaine in front of her husband to convince him of her addiction.

"I said, 'This is what's wrong with me,' and I proceeded to snort this line
of cocaine. And he looked at me, turned around and walked out," Laurie
Hiett said in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview to be aired Sunday.

Four months later, the Army offered her husband a promotion, which involved
fighting drugs in Colombia. Hiett says U.S. officials knew of her past
addiction, and her husband lied, telling officials she had stopped using
the drug so she could accompany him to Colombia.

Hiett, 36, pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges in January, saying she
shipped packages containing $700,000 worth of drugs to New York City. She
also admitted traveling to New York to collect the illicit proceeds to take
back to Colombia - an act falling under the legal definition of money
laundering. Hiett, who is free on bond, faces up to nine years in prison at
sentencing Friday in New York.

Her husband, Col. James Hiett, 48, the former head of U.S. anti-drug
operations in Bogota, pleaded guilty to a federal charge last month,
admitting that he knew his wife was laundering drug money but failed to
turn her in. He faces up to three years in prison and $250,000 in fines
when sentenced June 23.