JUDD GREGG: CONGRESS SHOULD ANSWER 'FIRST CALL' FOR DRUG WAR HELOS IN AMERICA

Congress should address the needs of the Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for more advanced
helicopters before providing them for the drug war in Colombia, Sen. Judd
Gregg (R-N.H.) said last week.

The House last month passed a $12.7 billion FY '00 emergency supplemental
with more than $470 million for 30 Sikorsky [UTX] UH-60 Black Hawks, 15
Bell Helicopter Textron [TXT] UH-1N Hueys and upgrades for 12 UH-1H Hueys
for the Colombian army and police (Defense Daily, March 31). The Senate,
however, will likely take up the supplemental spending--on an expedited
schedule--in its FY '01 bills.

Last Thursday's Senate floor speech by Gregg, a member of the Senate
Appropriations Committee's defense panel, indicated that the funding for
the Colombian helicopters may be in trouble.

"Let me tell you what the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Border
Patrol have to fly on our borders in order to interdict drugs. They fly old
Vietnam-era helicopters. They aren't safe. In fact, many of them have been
grounded," Gregg said. "DEA and INS have both requested aircraft in order
to patrol the borders. Yet the administration turns around and is willing
to give 30 Black Hawk helicopters to Colombia. Who knows what will happen
to those helicopters. Who knows how they will be used. But I can assure you
that the first call, I believe, on new helicopters for the purposes of the
drug war should have gone to the departments which fight the drug war in
the United States and which need them."

Gregg said that a U.S. sale would also ensure the helicopters are used as
intended.

"I have to say that I really doubt that aircraft in Colombia is going to
end up doing the job. I do not know how it is going to be used. But I
strongly suspect it is not going to be used very effectively if we look at
the history of what has happened with our efforts outside this country in
the area of crime enforcement," Gregg said.

"I suspect what we will end up with is some company in America making a
heck of a lot of money because somebody will buy 30 Black Hawk helicopters
and ship them to Colombia. That will be the end of it. That will be the
last we hear of them."

"But if the administration is willing to pay for the aircraft along the
border, the use of those aircraft would be accountable to the American
people," he said. "We would know whether those aircraft were being used
correctly in law enforcement and drug enforcement."