CATCHING DRUG TRAFFICKERS A NEW PRIORITY

A year ago, Tom Lohman was part of a two-man team in Stuttgart tasked with
fighting drug-related terrorism throughout Europe.

Now, he is one of a dozen members of U.S. European Command's
counternarco-terrorism office that has found itself much busier this year.

As the Department of Defense takes a larger interest in drug trafficking
around the world because of links between the illegal drug market and
terrorism, people such as Lohman are finding more work, funding and areas
of control at their fingertips.

Lohman, manager of EUCOM's counternarco-terrorism program since 1997, said
he recently has been freed to help investigate drug activity in areas
around Europe.

A change in policy after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks freed
Department of Defense money for operations to crack down on drug networks
around the world, even if the drugs were not coming into the United States,
Lohman said. The reasoning was simple: terrorists were using money from
drug trafficking to fund operations, and they were using traditional drug
smuggling routes to transport weapons.

Lohman's office is paying to send EUCOM Special Forces and contract workers
to Azerbaijan to train the Azeri Navy in maritime security for the Caspian
Guard Initiative, a new program aimed to increasing security in the Caspian
Sea and countries that border it, he said.

In the process, Lohman said, U.S. officials are gaining a foothold into a
drug route that has been the target of much speculation by U.S. officials
but not much investigation.

"There is very little actual intelligence information that can be sighted
as far as drugs transiting either in the sea or in the area near the sea,"
Lohman said. "The more we look, the more we think we'll find."

Money devoted to countering narco-terrorism could eventually pay for new
boats and surveillance gear the Azeri government would use to stop drug
smugglers, Lohman said.

Lohman said his office will participate in a similar way with the
Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Initiative, which aims to train soldiers in
northern Africa.

He said he was also working with countries along the Adriatic Sea and
Balkan states, although he declined to give specifics.

"We're really trying to link terrorism with the drug threat," Lohman said
"Sometimes it's very obvious, sometimes it's subtle, and sometimes it's not
there."