AIR FORCE CALLS FOR SINGLE SITE TO STAGE ITS COUNTERDRUG OPERATIONS

After an April 1 meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Southern
Command chief Marine Corps Gen. Charles Wilhelm was reportedly
confident he had the chiefs' backing for his plan to open three or
more new basing facilities in Latin America and the Caribbean. But
when the Joint Staff and the Office of the Secretary of Defense last
week began moving forward to implement Wilhelm's view of decisions
made in the JCS "tank," the Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Michael
Ryan, immediately cried foul.

Ryan reportedly never agreed to the Southern Command's plan to name
the Air Force the "executive agent" for each of the first three
"forward operating locations" SOUTHCOM hopes to open in Manta,
Ecuador, and on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Curacao and Aruba.
Rather, the Air Force chief has argued over the past several weeks
that his service can meet all of Wilhelm's requirements for carrying
out the regional war against drugs using a single site at Curacao,
sources said.

If the other sites are needed, they are not needed by the Air Force,
Ryan has reportedly argued, so the Air Force should not be expected to
run them or pay for them.

What is at the heart of the debate is whether the Air Force can
effectively launch counternarcotics reconnaissance operations over the
drug "source zone" in South America using a facility located in the
Caribbean, known as the "transit zone."

Specifically, some officials doubt whether the service would provide
the tanker aircraft necessary to offer the same amount of patrol
coverage over the South American source zone as is currently the case
with counterdrug enforcement flights out of Panama.

With U.S. humanitarian and military efforts ongoing around the globe,
Air Force refueling planes are spread thin, and some fear SOUTHCOM
would get the short end of the stick when the service balances its
operating priorities.

But the Air Mobility Command has committed to supplying tanker
aircraft to support the mission, flying from a base in the continental
United States to refuel SOUTHCOM's reconnaissance sorties over the
source zone, officials said.

Adding fuel to the fire is SOUTHCOM's desire to improve its ability to
undertake the counterdrug mission. But whether the JCS actually
approved any increased effort on April 1 remains under debate among
the chiefs.

A Southern Command spokesman, Steve Lucas, last week declined any
comment on the issue.

On April 6, Ryan officially appealed to JCS Chairman Gen. Hugh
Shelton, saying the JCS did not approve the designation of the Air
Force as the lead service for the three new facilities, according to
Pentagon officials. Nearly all the service chiefs have privately
expressed concerns that if Wilhelm's plan for establishing base access
in the three new locations were to go forward, it would likely cost
well more than is budgeted, according to Pentagon officials.

Any service designated as executive agent for a new facility would be
expected to bear the cost of any shortfalls in SOUTHCOM's military
construction or operating budgets should they arise, sources said.

A military site survey recently concluded the cost to upgrade
facilities at the three sites could cost more than four times the
budget SOUTHCOM has identified to develop the new FOLs (ITP, April 8,
p1). In fact, improvements to Curacao alone could eat up the whole
construction budget allotted for fiscal year 2000, according to the
site survey.

SOUTHCOM also hopes to establish a fourth site at Liberia, Costa Rica,
although negotiations with that Central American nation are on a
slower track because of sensitivity there to a U.S. military presence,
sources said.

The Southern Command's apparent reason for selecting the Air Force to
serve as the lead on all three of the initial FOLs is that the service
ultimately would have the preponderance of assets at each location.
With Manta the least developed of all the FOLs under consideration --
the site surveyors estimated Manta may need in excess of $100 million
in military construction alone to be suitable for U.S. forces -- many
assets are slated to bed down at Aruba and Curacao this year. When
Manta can begin accepting more U.S. forces in a couple years, much of
the equipment at Curacao is likely to move out. The Air Force, faced
with burgeoning budget pressures and strained operating tempo, is
confident a single site is operationally sound and the most
cost-effective option. But some say those same pressures on costs and
operating assets would likely prompt the Air Force to skimp on its
responsibilities.

Thus far, the Air Force's arguments that it would provide all that is
needed to operate out of a single site have not satisfied critics. The
drumbeat of Pentagon opposition began April 6, when Robert Newberry,
an official with DOD's drug enforcement policy and support
directorate, circulated a draft memo from the defense secretary on
SOUTHCOM's FOL plan. In the package, Newberry cited the Air Force as
executive agent for Manta, Curacao and Aruba.

Then, at an April 7 meeting of the three-star operations deputies of
each of the services, the director of the Joint Staff, Vice Adm. Vern
Clark, gave a briefing on SOUTHCOM's concept of operations for three
to six FOLs. He said the concept had been approved by the Joint Chiefs
in their April 1 tank session.

Clark told the flag and general officers he was providing a concept of
operations for the FOL arrangement as a courtesy to the three-stars,
but did not intend to "coordinate" the document with them, which would
have allowed input or protests from the services, according to
officials familiar with the meeting.

The services, as force providers, typically take the role of
specifying the quantity and type of assets they offer to fill the
requirements of regional commanders. But Wilhelm's concept of
operations for the new FOLs reportedly lays out specific quantities of
particular aircraft and other hardware he expects to undertake the
counterdrug mission in his theater, and the sites -- Curacao, Aruba,
Ecuador or Costa Rica -- out of which each force will operate.

An interim agreement between the United States and Ecuador on using
Manta as an FOL was signed April 1. A similar temporary pact was
concluded April 13 in The Hague for access to Curacao and Aruba.

SOUTHCOM reportedly hopes to begin moving military assets from Panama
to the three initial FOLs beginning on May 1.

At press time (April 14), Shelton had not yet formally responded to
Ryan's memo, and the letter outlining the controversial SOUTHCOM plan
had not yet been signed by Defense Secretary William Cohen.