MCCAFFREY PROMOTES TIGHTER BORDER

SAN ANTONIO, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey has
called for increasing the ranks of the U.S. Border Patrol from 7,000 to
20,000 officers as well as other measures to guard against drug
smuggling.

Speaking in San Antonio, McCaffrey also argued for construction of

``400 to 500 miles'' of high-tech fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.

In an interview with WOAI radio today, McCaffrey conceded that
despite increases in personnel and equipment, efforts to stop the flow
of drugs into the U.S. from Mexico ``have not yielded the benefits we
had hoped for.''

He said: ``The answer is technology. The technology will save
American lives and tremendous amounts of money.''

He will spell out his ideas Monday and Tuesday at several events,
including an address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the National
Prevention Network Research Association.

McCaffrey points to the El Paso area as evidence that fencing
works.

He says: ``You go into El Paso now, you have 22 kilometers of
fencing. In the 200 miles (320 km) of border monitored by that Border
Patrol sector last year they seized 60 tons of drugs. In the 22
kilometers where there is fencing, they seized 500 pounds of drugs.''

He says both sides of the border would benefit from a fence because

it would bolster law and order, although he acknowledges Mexico might
resent the fence.

Fencing already separates San Diego and Tijuana, where violence and

drug smuggling along the border plummeted.

McCaffrey says a hi-tech fence festooned with low-light cameras
would help ``deter a tremendous amount of crime and violence.''

He said he wants better coordination between local and federal
agents at the border, improved intelligence and ``border czars'' to
coordinate the efforts of various agencies working in different border
sectors.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry