DRUG CARTELS RUN AMOK IN A POLICY VACUUM

The window of opportunity to bring down drug trafficking
organizations in Central and South America is quickly shrinking.
However, despite its recent efforts, the Obama administration still
lacks the one thing that we desperately need to win the fight against
the cartels -- a strategy.

While it may seem obvious, the United States surprisingly lacks a
comprehensive plan to bring down drug trafficking organizations. The
federal government does have some counter-drug strategies, but they
are either too broad -- like the annual National Drug Control
Strategy, which reads more like an "accomplishment report" of past
successes rather than a "how to" manual -- or too focused -- like the
National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy, which addresses,
among other things, ways to strengthen security along the border itself.

Drug cartels have become international criminal organizations that
derive billions of dollars in income through numerous drug transit
routes -- including through Mexico and the Caribbean to the United
States and, recently, via Africa to Europe. Each of these routes
represents a substantial lifeline for the cartels, and, if we are to
succeed, all of them must be disrupted.

The U.S. needs a comprehensive plan that not only includes ways to
more aggressively dismantle all the drug trafficking routes, but also
focuses on stemming the flow of money to the cartels and reducing
domestic demand. Further, the strategy must contain a realistic
assessment of how much it will cost to reach our objectives. Any plan
would be useless without the appropriate funding.

All of this, of course, raises the question: why don't we have a
plan? The main reason is the absence of leadership from the top. Both
Congress and past and current administrations have failed to provide
the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) with adequate
authority to direct, oversee and coordinate the plans and actions of
multiple and diverse agencies involved in the drug war.

ONDCP was established by Congress in the late 1980's as an arm of the
White House with the mission of reducing illegal drug use and drug
trafficking. It is responsible for, among other things, overseeing
the anti-drug operations and budgets of such agencies as the Drug
Enforcement Administration, FBI, the Department of Defense and U.S.
Customs and Border Enforcement, just to name a few. It also works in
a variety of ways with state and local law enforcement. More
importantly, it has expressly been given the responsibility for
developing strategies and reports, including the nation's drug
control strategy.

Given its role and responsibilities, ONDCP is the obvious choice to
develop a comprehensive and effective strategy against the drug
cartels. However, it has not done so, and will not likely do so,
because it doesn't have the authority it needs to coordinate the work
of multiple and often competing line agencies and other
organizations, such as the National Security Council, that are
involved in all aspects of the drug war.

Two ways can bring about the coordination among the various agencies
that is essential if we are to have a cohesive and effective strategy
against drug trafficking organizations. The first is for Congress to
statutorily require it. This method has been used frequently with
ONDCP and other agencies by placing what is called "report language"
in either an authorizing or appropriations bill. It demands that an
agency produce a report, plan, strategy, etc., on a given subject and
submit it to Congress at a certain time. In fact, this was done for
the National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy.

The second way, which would be far more expedient and would show the
clear commitment of the president to winning the battle against the
cartels, would be for the White House to give its full backing to the
ONDCP director, demand that an effective and workable product be
developed, and require all the relevant agencies to participate.
ONDCP was created for this very task. However, its current authority
to decertify anti-drug agencies' budgets provides it with only
limited leverage over the departments. The only way that ONDCP will
get all of the interagency cooperation needed to carry out this vital
task is to have the full authority of the president to make it
happen. In other words, the president should let the drug czar be the
drug czar.