LOS ANGELES, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- The Pentagon has decided to reduce its role in the war on drugs so that it can devote more of its resources to combating terrorism, and will begin approaching a possibly-reluctant Congress with its proposals in the coming weeks, according to a published report Sunday.
The Los Angeles Times said that the military's desires could run into opposition from lawmakers who view the armed forces as an important participant in efforts to stem the flow of cocaine and other drugs smuggled into the United States.
"We should not be relaxing our efforts in the war on drugs," Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, told the Times. "Terrorism is the highest priority, but drugs are still insidious.... Every time (military officials) bleed off assets, it just opens up the drug corridors again."
Military contributions budgeted at some $1 billion in fiscal year 2002 have helped tighten up the southern flank of the United States where cocaine and marijuana had poured across the border with little opposition from the undermanned contingent of Customs and other federal agents charged with intercepting the well-funded and inventive Latin American cartels.
The Coast Guard seized more than 177,000 pounds of cocaine on the high seas during the 2002 fiscal year, the third-largest amount ever, as well as nearly 40,000 pounds of marijuana. Coast Guard personnel routinely take part in patrols of the eastern Pacific smuggling lanes with Navy warships.
While increasingly successful at picking off drug cargoes, Sept. 11 changed the priorities of the military, and defense planners were expected to finalize their plans to shift resources to anti-terrorism in the coming weeks, the Times said.
Pentagon officials told the newspaper that the military planned to remain a part of the nation's anti-drug campaign, but only after a review that would determine which jobs were being well handled and which were not cost-effective.
"The top priorities now are to defend the homeland and to win the war on terrorism," Andre Hollis, the head of the Pentagon's counter-narcotics program, told the Times.
The military presence in Colombia is one area that likely will not be axed, the Times said, because of the U.S.'s concerns that much of Latin America could become destabilized should the Colombian government lose its long-running battle with rebels who are reputedly heavily involved with the powerful drug cartels based in the South American nation.
Officials pointed out that the number of intelligence and Special Forces troops involved in Colombia is relatively small and are specifically trained for operations in Latin America and would likely not play a major role in U.S. operations in the Middle East.
Other units may be pulled out of the anti-drug arsenal, particularly long-range reconnaissance aircraft and Special Forces troops who help train Customs, Border Patrol as well as personnel from other law enforcement agencies in skills such as tracking, intelligence analysis and languages.
