Drug Czar Attacks Pentagon's Effort in Fight

WASHINGTONThe official who heads the administration's war on narcotics
picked a rare public quarrel with the Pentagon on Thursday over the conduct
of the federal antidrug crusade on the Mexican border and elsewhere in the
world.

In an unprecedented move, Barry R. McCaffrey, director of the White House
Office of Drug Control Policy, announced that he would not approve the
Pentagon's fiscal 1999 budget, as required by law, unless the department
boosts proposed antidrug spending by $141 million.

But defense officials insisted that his proposal would crimp other needed
military programs while shoveling more money at the antidrug effort than
it could productively absorb.

'We think the amounts are excessive," said Kenneth Bacon, the chief
Pentagon spokesman, "particularly at a time when we, like other agencies,
are being asked to do more, with less money, every day."

While McCaffrey, who is a retired Army general, has statutory authority to
reshape the defense budget, Pentagon officials hope to appeal to officials
at the White House to override his decisions.

McCaffrey, pointing out that other federal agencies have increased their
antidrug spending at a much faster rate, demanded that the Pentagon step
up its allocation for the drug fight in four areas:

* An increase to $150 million, from $75 million, to carry on the antidrug
fight in the Andes, where U.S. and local officials are working together to
interdict traffic in cocaine.

* An increase to $162 million, from $132 million, to support the antidrug
activities of the National Guard, which inspects goods and monitors traffic
on the Mexican border.

* An increase of $24 million for a program that trains Mexican officials to
locate and arrest drug traffickers and money launderers in the border region.

* An increase of at least $12 million for a program that attempts to
intercept traffickers in the Caribbean basin, which includes southern Florida.

In a letter to Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, McCaffrey asserted that
federal law gives him authority to direct the Pentagon's spending on the
drug fight. And he said he cannot certify next year's defense budget
without the changes.

"There's nothing personal in this," said one official of the drug agency
who asked to remain unidentified. "We're doing this to make a point: that
the director is serious about his job."

But Bacon questioned the value of added spending in each of the categories.

He pointed out that while McCaffrey wants to double spending in the Andean
region, "we do not believe [officials] can productively spend so much new
money."

He said the National Guard antidrug program is already "adequate."

And he asserted that the program to train Mexican law enforcement officials
has already been required to set aside some funds because the program has
not been able to put them to good use.

Bacon disputed whether the military could make a worthwhile contribution to
the Caribbean interdiction program.

It is properly a job for customs agencies and the Coast Guard, with "no
clear defense role," he said.

The Pentagon, which expects flat budgets for the next several years, had
planned to keep its antidrug spending at $809 million.

Copyright Los Angeles Times