SAN DIEGO (AP) Sources in the national office of drug control policy told
The Associated Press today that a Mexican drug trafficker placed a call to
the FBI threatening to kill chief Gen. Barry McCaffrey.

The FBI and military officials considered the threat serious and credible,
the highly placed sources within the drug policy office said.

The caller told the FBI field office in Texas that the murder would be
carried out with a missile attack.

The call was placed to the FBI Tuesday while McCaffrey was in Laredo,
Texas.

``This is the first threat of this kind the general has ever received,'' two
unnamed sources said.

US offiicals notified Mexican officials and both were providing additional
security for McCaffrey.

Officials are taking the threat seriously because the caller gave a reason
why the missile attack would be carried out. The caller also said he did not
want to carry it out but was being told to do so by drug traffickers in
Mexico, the sources said.

The sources said the named drug trafficker operates in northern Mexico. They
would not confirm or deny that the trafficker was a member of the
ArellanoFelix ring that operates out of Tijuana, Mexico.

McCaffrey was scheduled Thursday to speak in Tijuana. It was unclear this
mornig if he would continue with his scheduled appointment there.

McCaffrey is on a tour of the Southwest border.