REPORT: U.S. FACES HIGHER RISK OF COCAINE TRAFFICKING

WASHINGTON - More cocaine is likely to come into the United States
from South America as the U.S. diverts resources from its drug-control
strategy to hurricane relief and the war on terror, congressional
investigators say.

The report prepared by the Government Accountability Office, an
investigative arm of Congress, found that U.S. cocaine seizures from
2000 to 2004 increased by 68 percent to a record 196 metric tons in
the "transit zone" the area between the U.S. and South America.

But the Pentagon's attention to armed conflicts in Afghanistan and
Iraq and the Homeland Security Department's focus Hurricane Katrina
threatens to undermine recent achievements, the GAO said in its report.

The report, an advance copy of which was obtained by The Associated
Press, offers a sobering look at the future of government efforts to
stymie America 's $65 billion illegal drug habit.

It notes that while drug seizures have increased, U.S. cocaine
supplies and the number of users (2 Million) have not fallen,
apparently do to a rise in shipments.

"We need to be more effective and better prepared because these are
routes that not only move illicit drugs today, but can easily move
other more dangerous commodities such as terrorist in the future,"
said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who requested the study.

In the report, the GAO pointed in particular to reduced use of the
Navy's P-3 maritime patrol aircraft "due to structural problems," a
slowing Coast Guard response because of aging ships, and a surface
radar system on Coast Guard aircraft that is "often
inoperable."

Since fiscal year 2000, the number of hours flown by the Navy P-3s has
decreased by nearly 60 percent to about 1,500 hours in fiscal year
2005, according to the study.

"Various factors pose challenges to maintaining the current level of
transit zone interdiction operations," the GAO said in calling on the
Pentagon and Homeland Security to develop a long-term strategy to plan
for a likely shortfall in ships and aircraft.

In their official responses, the departments said they were working to
boost resources for drug control but acknowledged they were
constrained partly by the perceived threat level as well as
availability of funding.