COORDINATION IN DRUG FIGHT URGED

WASHINGTON - Results in the fight against drug smuggling along the Mexican
border will not improve much without an official to coordinate efforts of
23 federal agencies, President Clinton's drug policy director said Friday.

``This is nuts. We've got to have somebody for the local police and sheriff
to go to,'' Barry McCaffrey told a House panel. Some lawmakers said the
coordinator should be able to issue orders and direct resources for
drug-fighting efforts, not just act as a liaison among agencies.

``This is an invasion! I don't think we can say coordination is the
answer,'' said Rep. Patsy Mink, D-Hawaii. ``Somebody needs to be in charge.
The military might approach this from an overall command post.''

McCaffrey said that although he sympathized with that view, he did not
think it would be possible to get Congress and the Clinton administration
to agree.

``We should go for what we can achieve,'' McCaffrey said.

What is possible, he said, is appointing one official based in El Paso,
Texas, to coordinate among federal, state, local and Mexican officials.
Each border crossing post and each of the four states bordering Mexico also
should have coordinators, he said.

``You pulled back from having a coordinator with power and punch,''
criticized Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark.

McCaffrey spoke at a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee's
subcommittee on drug issues. Despite recent gains in money, manpower and
technology, a large percentage of illegal drugs in America travel over the
southwest border, McCaffrey said.

``We have not yet reached our purpose of significantly reducing the amount
of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine coming across the
border,'' he said. Part of the problem is that federal agencies are
terrible at sharing information about drug cartels with other agencies and
local police, McCaffrey said.

He defended the nation's drug-fighting relationship with Mexico, saying
that despite widespread corruption in Mexico, U.S. authorities are working
with Mexican officials who are getting results.

``It's never been more dangerous in Mexico for U.S. law enforcement and
Mexican law enforcement,'' McCaffrey said.

Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., criticized the practice of returning some
smalltime drug smugglers to Mexico without prosecuting them.

``We want to go after the drug kingpins,'' McCaffrey said, not ``a rented
dupe.''

``Someone who was rented to smuggle drugs is still a drug smuggler,''
Bilbray replied. ``The dupe is the American people.''