MICA: U.S. A.W.O.L. IN DRUG WAR

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A key House subcommittee chairman is accusing the
Clinton administration of sabotaging the war on drugs by sharply
reducing the Pentagon's ability to interdict U.S.-bound shipments.
Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., based his allegation on a report by
congressional investigators that said the number of flight hours
devoted to counterdrug missions declined 68 percent from 1992 though
1999.

The report by the General Accounting Office last month 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 told a hearing
of his House Government Reform Committee's panel on criminal justice, drug
policy and human resources on Thursday.

Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., chairman of the House International Relations
Committee, said he was appalled by the report's findings. 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 noted there have been budget cuts for defense in
the post-Cold War era, and some had an impact on the drug war, including a
$200 million cutback in 1994.

She also said the diversion of radar planes from counternarcotics
activities was another contributing factor.

Other drug war assets were redeployed to Bosnia and the Middle East to help
meet priority military contingencies, she said. In his opening statement,
Mica said few wars in U.S. history ``have taken a greater toll in lives or
imposed greater destruction and casualties on our society'' than the drug
menace.

Since 1993, he said, more than 100,000 Americans have died in drug-related
incidents, including 15,973 in 1998. Jess Ford, an analyst for the GAO --
Congress' investigative branch -- said the Florida-based U.S. Southern
Command told the GAO that the Pentagon was unable to meet 57 percent of the
command's requests for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
flights during the last fiscal year. Ford said the Southern Command
believes that the lack of assets hurt its ability to respond quickly to
changing drug-trafficking patterns.