TREAT TRAFFICKERS LIKE TERRORISTS, OFFICIAL SAYS

The United States should employ some of the techniques it is using to fight
international terrorism in its war on drugs, the federal drug control chief
said yesterday.

Interviewed a day before President Bush was due to release his national
drug control strategy for 2005, John P. Walters said international drug
traffickers shared many characteristics with terrorist networks, although
there were also some important differences.

"Maybe the brutal experience we've had with terror helps to make this more
concrete and understandable," said Walters, director of the Office of
National Drug Control Policy.

Like terrorist networks, most drug organizations are no longer centrally
controlled, with one command running the trade all the way from production
to distribution, or as Walters put it, "from the farm to the arm."

That made the drug trade harder to disrupt, since individual cells that
were put out of commission by law enforcement agencies could easily be
replaced.

However, Walters said it ought to be easier to go after drug traffickers
because the drug trade involved many thousands of people, making it more
vulnerable to attack and disruption. "We now have tools and ways of sharing
intelligence and looking at these organizations more as businesses."

FBI Warns of Virus Spread in 'FBI' E-Mails

The FBI warned that a computer virus is being spread through unsolicited
e-mails that purport to come from the FBI.

The e-mails appear to come from an fbi.gov address. They tell recipients
that they have accessed illegal Web sites and that their Internet use has
been monitored by the FBI's "Internet Fraud Complaint Center," the FBI said.

The messages then direct recipients to open an attachment and answer
questions. The computer virus is in the attachment.

High School Summit Targets Dropout Rates

With dropout rates rising, governors nationwide are being asked to lead a
high school restructuring that demands more skills of students and help
from colleges.

The call for action, outlined by leaders of an upcoming national summit on
high schools, would change everything from core course requirements to
state graduation standards.

It came as the Educational Testing Service reported yesterday that high
school completion rates dropped nationally from 1990 to 2000, with about
one-third of students failing to graduate. It is the latest in a string of
sobering assessments of high school performance.

Governors from virtually all 50 states and five territories are expected in
Washington on Saturday and Sunday for the high school summit.

High Court Declines Rainbow Bridge Case

The Supreme Court refused to review a National Park Service policy of
asking visitors to avoid walking near Utah's Rainbow Bridge out of respect
for American Indian religion.

The high court also declined to consider a last-ditch appeal by the federal
government seeking to remove U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth from
deciding an eight-year-old lawsuit pitting 300,000 American Indian
landowners against the Interior Department.