OPENING REMARKS OF

CHAIRMAN J. DENNIS HASTERT

Hearing of

The Subcommittee on National Security, International
Affairs, and Criminal Justice "COAST GUARD DRUG
INTERDICTION EFFORTS IN THE TRANSIT ZONE"

MARCH 10, 1997

In today's hearing, we zero in on the national security
threat posed by the explosion of maritime drug trafficking
in the transit zone, and the extraordinary efforts by the
United States Coast Guard's to combat it. Let me say, by
"transit zone", we mean the 2 million square mile area
between the U.S and South American borders and covers the
Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, Central America, Mexico
and the Eastern Pacific.

We are privileged to have Admiral Robert Kramek
President Clinton's outstanding Interdiction Coordinator
and the Commandant of the Coast Guard. Admiral Kramek has
been a tremendous leader in our interdiction efforts and we
welcome him here today.

We are also pleased to have with us several "front
line" Coast Guard personnel direct from operations within
the transit zonea C130 pilot, a HU25C pilot, a
Commanding Officer of a cutter, and a boarding officer
These officers are the ones who have to risk their lives
tracking, pursuing and arresting international drug
traffickers off the coasts of Colombia and Mexico and our
own coast. We are honored to have all of you brave men
here.

Finally, we have Admiral Paul Yost, former Coast Guard
Commandant, and the architect of the highly effective
late1 980's drug interdiction program. Welcome.

Stopping the flow of cocaine into the United States is
the number one priority of the international drug control
policy. Currently, over 2f ')% of the cocaine entering the
United States comes through the Caribbean, mostly from
Colombia bound for Mexico and Puerto Rico. Roughly $15
billion worth of Cocaine travels through the Caribbean. A
great deal of this cocaine enters the United States through
the ports and borders of Puerto Rico. Have no doubts,
drugs entering Puerto Rico don't stop there80% continue
on to the rest of the U.S.

All current indicators show an increase in trafficking
through the Caribbean. But there is another untold story.
Budget reductions since 1992 for interdiction efforts have
reduced the ability of law enforcement and the Defense
Department to identify, to track, and to intercept
international drug traffickers. The problem intensified in
1995. The President's 1995 National Drug Control Strategy
stated that "a stronger focus on source countries was
necessary," and the National Security Council "determined
that a controlled shift in emphasis was requireda shift
away from past efforts that focused primarily on
interdiction in the transit zone to new efforts that focus
on interdiction in and around source countries." President
Clinton issued Presidential Decision Directive 14 making
this determination official policy.

But the policy has not become reality. While funding
was shifted from transit zone interdiction, stripping the
Coast Guard and others of critical resources, there was no
increase in funds for source country programs. We lost
critical transit zone support and gained no new resources
in the source countries,

Due to this shift in resources, we have seen the
Caribbean become an extremely active drug transit area. In
fact, Puerto Rico has probably paid as high a price as
anyone. Their murder rate has become higher than any state
over the past several years and ninety percent of all
violence on the island is believed to be drug related.

Last June this Subcommittee conducted a field hearing
in San Juan Harbor aboard a Coast Guard Cutter aptly
named the Courageous. At that hearing we heard from
Governor Rossello who clearly conveyed the message that his
island is under siege. Under his leadership Puerto Rico
has fought back. But, they cannot do it alone. They need
our support. Reduced attention by the President and weaker
of funding is a big part of the problem. In fiscal 1991,
President Bush committed $2, billion dollars to drug
interdiction. By 1995 President Clinton had cut
interdiction spending to $1.2 billion dollars. The
President mothballed Customs and other aircraft, removed
intelligence assets, and reduced the number of Coast Guard
cutters, ship days, flying hours and personnel. In the
last three years Congress restored some of the much needed
funding for transit zone and source zone interdiction. But
we are far from having the resources we had when Admiral
Yost led our efforts in the late 1980's. For fiscal year
1998, the President has requested $1.6 billion for
interdiction and just under $4 billion for the Coast Guard.
We will work to make that happen but more effort is
needed.

Finally, we need to discuss how effective increased
resources can be. A recently released report by the
Institute for Defense Analyses employed rigorous
mathematical modeling to quality and determined that a
properly planned, source zone interdiction strategy is
costeffective. Such a campaign increases cocaine prices,
and thereby reduces cocaine use in the United States.

Based on the success of a new operation called FRONTIER
SHIELD, which Admiral Kramek will outline today, and the
results of the IDA study, we now need to reassess our
funding structure for interdiction and how important this
part of the drug war is. I hope that today's hearing
will serve as a cornerstone of this Subcommittee's efforts
over the next two years. Thank you.