LAW ENFORCEMENT VETERAN TO HEAD CUSTOMS SERVICE

Choice of Raymond Kelly is seen as a clear signal that the administration
aims to toughen the agency's drug-fighting efforts.

WASHINGTON--Raymond W. Kelly, a straight-talking ex-Marine and former New
York police commissioner, is stepping down as the Treasury Department's
undersecretary for enforcement to assume direct control of one of six
agencies under his command: the troubled U.S. Customs Service.

Explaining why he accepted the lower-ranking post, Kelly said: "I just
wanted to get back into an operational mode, and Customs is a great agency
with an important mission."

He acknowledged that Customs has experienced some serious problems, some of
which Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) spotlighted in a speech on the
Senate floor Thursday.

Feinstein said she was surprised by an article in The Times earlier this
week reporting that the amount of cocaine seized at commercial ports of
entry along the U.S.-Mexico border plummeted 84% in 1997, compared with the
year before. This has forced Customs officials, who oversee the ports, to
develop a new drug-fighting strategy and left them concerned about a
backlash in Congress.

And last fall, Customs officials acknowledged in testimony to a
congressional committee that a wide disparity existed between resources
devoted to the East and West coasts, leaving the Los Angeles area
vulnerable to international crime.

Data provided the committee by Customs showed the agency has placed about
twice as many special agents in its New York and Miami offices as it has in
Los Angeles, where 167 people are assigned to the investigative unit. Even
though it covers the largest metropolitan area of the agency's field
offices, the Los Angeles unit ranks seventh in size.

Kelly said Thursday: "We're on the way to addressing some of [the
problems], and I'm excited about joining the agency."

Kelly's appointment is widely seen as a clear signal that the
administration aims to toughen Customs' drug-enforcement efforts.

Although the White House has not officially announced Kelly's appointment,
other sources confirmed it after Feinstein, in her Senate speech, mentioned
that she had urged the appointment of a law enforcement veteran as the new
Customs commissioner and that President Clinton planned to name Kelly.

Kelly will replace Samuel H. Banks, who has been acting commissioner since
October, when George Weise resigned.

Kelly's boss as undersecretary will be James E. Johnson, who has been
serving under him as assistant secretary for enforcement.

A combat veteran of the Vietnam War, Kelly rose through the ranks of the
New York City Police Department, serving in every rank and 25 commands
before becoming
commissioner in October 1992. Recognized as New York state's law
enforcement official of the year in 1993, he helped lead the successful
investigation of that year's bombing at the World Trade Center. He retired
as commissioner in January 1994.

Feinstein said she was "heartened" by Kelly's appointment, calling him "a
straight shooter" with an exemplary background. She expressed hope he would
concentrate the Customs Service's efforts on its mission to intercept drugs
being smuggled into the United States.

With an annual budget of about $2.1 billion, the Customs Service, in
addition to its core mission of inspecting cargo and interdicting illegal
drugs, shares responsibility for combating international money-laundering
and arms-smuggling.

Feinstein told the Senate the Southwest border "is still, without question,
ground zero in U.S. drug-interdiction efforts, with more than 70% of the
cocaine and other narcotics entering this country across the 2,000-mile
stretch of border between our county and
Mexico."

Copyright Los Angeles Times