WHITE HOUSE ACCUSED OF HAMPERING WAR ON DRUGS

WASHINGTON - A key House subcommittee chairman is accusing the Clinton
administration of sabotaging the war on drugs by sharply reducing the
Pentagon's ability to stop U.S.-bound shipments.

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., based his accusation on a report by congressional
investigators that said the number of flight hours devoted to counterdrug
missions declined 68 percent from 1992 through 1999.

The report by the General Accounting Office in December also said the number
of ship days involved for the same purpose fell 62 percent during that
period.

"This report confirms that the war on drugs did not fail, but rather was
dismantled by the Clinton administration," Mica said yesterday at a hearing
of his House Government Reform subcommittee on criminal justice, drug policy
and human resources.

Mica reacted sharply when Ana Maria Salazar, a deputy assistant secretary of
defense, said the Pentagon remains committed to the administration's
counterdrug strategy.

"I find this hard to believe," Mica said. "I find the war on drugs has been
sabotaged."

Salazar said budget cuts for defense in the post-Cold War era have had an
impact on the drug war, including a $200 million cutback in 1994.

She also said radar planes were diverted from counternarcotics activities
and redeployed to Bosnia and the Middle East to help meet other military
priorities.

Jess Ford, an analyst for the GAO - Congress' investigative branch - said
the Florida-based U.S. Southern Command told the GAO the Pentagon was unable
to meet 57 percent of the command's requests for intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance flights during the past fiscal year.

Ford said the Southern Command believes the lack of assets hurts its ability
to respond quickly to changing drug-trafficking patterns.