ACCESSION NUMBER:310941

FILE ID:LEF415

DATE:11/04/93

TITLE:ANTIDRUG EFFORTS INTRINSIC PART OF U.S. FOREIGN POLICY (11/04/93)

TEXT:*93110415.LEF

*LEF415   11/04/93



ANTIDRUG EFFORTS INTRINSIC PART OF U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

(Corrected version of Lef412 of 11/04/93)  (660)

(With Lsi411 of 11/04/93)

By Norma Romano-Benner

USIA Staff Writer

NOTE: The following corrects Lef412 of 11/04/93, adding Lee Brown's title in

the fourth graf.  The Spanish version (Lsi411 of 11/04/93) is correct.



WASHINGTON -- President Clinton has outlined his administration's

international counternarcotics efforts in a classified policy document that

emphasizes U.S. assistance to drug-producing countries.



The Presidential Decision Directive for International Counternarcotics,

which Clinton signed Nov. 3, calls the operation of international criminal

narcotics syndicates "a national security threat requiring an extraordinary

and coordinated response by civilian and military agencies, both

unilaterally and by mobilizing international cooperation with other nations

1nd international organizations."



The directive is the result of an exhaustive eight-month review of U.S.

international antidrug policies and strategies.  It instructs federal

agencies to "change the emphasis in U.S. international drug programs from

the past concentration largely on stopping narcotics shipments to a more

evenly distributed effort."



Shortly after the president signed the directive, White House drug policy

director Lee Brown told a House panel the new antidrug policy "will require

an extraordinary coordination by civilian and military agencies engaged in

national security affairs."



Brown said Clinton is "fully committed" to the war on drugs and determined

to "concentrate on those programs that work and eliminate those that do

not."



"Our international strategy will accomplish these objectives," Brown said.

"The president has made it clear to me that he wants to support those

countries that demonstrate the political will to tackle the drug

trafficking problem," he told the House subcommittee on international

security, international organizations, and human rights.



Brown said the antidrug policy will not focus exclusively on interdiction,

because "nearly a decade of experience has taught us that interdiction is

not a silver bullet.



"It is clear from our review," he said, "that all our international programs

-- interdiction, crop control, intelligence, alternative development,

judicial reform, and law enforcement -- are interdependent and mutually

supportive endeavors that need to be advanced as an entity, rather than a

collection of seemingly disparate individual programs."



Brown explained that an interim antidrug strategy he presented to Congress

Oct. 20 focuses interdiction efforts in drug-producing countries.  He said

the strategy, the final version of which will be ready by Feb. 1, will

de-emphasize law enforcement efforts in transit nations because drug

traffickers are constantly changing their smuggling patterns.



"Changes in cocaine production have made traffickers and their operations

more vulnerable in the source countries," Brown noted, "so we are

concentrating our resources there."



He said he anticipates that reduced U.S. efforts in the transit regions

"will help finance expanded efforts in the source countries."



Brown noted that the Defense Department announced Oct. 28 it will redirect

its counterdrug program to "emphasize support to nations battling cocaine

cultivation and processing while shifting away from transit zone

interdiction."



He said expanded intelligence collection and analysis "will target the

cocaine cartels."



The Clinton administration, said Brown, views counternarcotics efforts as an

integral part of U.S. foreign policy, "and must be pursued with the same

long-term, worldwide commitment that the United States devotes to the

promotion of democracy and economic advancement."



Brown reiterated the U.S. commitment to work closely with the Organization

of American States (OAS) and its Inter-American Drug Abuse Control

Commission (CICAD), the United Nations, and other international bodies to

fight drugs worldwide.



"The strategy," he said, "will give increased emphasis to prodding

international financial institutions to revise their policies to reflect

1he threat posed by drugs and expand the pool of resources available to

international narcotics control activities."



He said U.S. policy will "look at goals such as dismantling major

trafficking organizations, strengthening judicial capability, promoting

sustained economic growth, and participating in multilateral law

enforcement efforts."



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