to defend the American people. You need 25-year-old law enforcement women and men who speak Spanish, who are going to work there for 5 years-not young soldiers and Marines, carrying M-16 rifles.

So I think DOD has a tremendous contribution to make, but it will not be a dismounted tank battalion from the New Jersey National Guard.

Senator BINGAMAN. Let me just say this, sort of finally here. I want to commend you on all you are doing and tell you that I agree with everything you have said here. At the same time, it strikes me that on demand reduction, we are largely missing the boat. There was an editorial in fact in the New York Times this weekend essentially endorsing the approach that has been taken in Arizona, where they are taking nonviolent, first-time drug offenders and essentially diverting them into treatment to deal with their addiction, rather than putting them in prison.

I think you have spoken out on this issue I believe you have in the past. I would be interested in you giving us any thoughts you have got as to whether, on the demand reduction side, we ought to be putting a greater emphasis on treatment and getting people over their addiction, rather than just incarceration.

General MCCAFFREY. Well, Senator, I think Arizona, elements of that Proposition 200 were excellent. Some aspects of it were a thinly designed effort by legalization forces to change the agenda. We were enormously distressed by it.

But when it comes to the notion of the 1.8 million people behind bars, this gigantic $36 billion a year incarceration program, half those people-up to 85 percent-take a pick of your studies-have an alcohol or drug abuse problem. We are never going to break out of this situation until we get the treatment system linked into the criminal justice system and the treatment system linked into the welfare system and the treatment system linked into the health care system. So that is our challenge. Donna Shalala, Dick Riley, Janet Reno, and I are committed to that proposition.

We have been supported by Congress with enormous increases in funding. We are over $3 billion now in treatment. We have upped, as I mentioned earlier, 26 percent treatment funding in 4 budget years, 55 percent in prevention funding. We have gone to the front end of the system-the drug courts-so if you are a 30-year-old addict, HIV-positive, hepatitis C, tuberculosis leg sores, unemployed for a decade, arrested on felony charges multiple times a year, and you come into court, we now put you in a drug court system which essentially is pretrial diversion.

Three years go there were 12 of these courts. Today there are 600 on line or coming on line. I hope when we walk away from these responsibilities there will be 1,000 in 2 years.

Janet Reno has in the Federal budget, in her budget, something called Break the Cycle. We are now in five locations. It essentially says, if you are a violent criminal and you are arrested, we will test you. If you are positive, you are going into mandated drug treatment. That is a very growing and active program.

Then there are a series of other measures we are making, that will culminate this fall, in calling for a national convention, where we are going to lay out our thinking on how the States-that is

where the prisoners are there is 105,000 prisoners at the Federal level; there is 900,000-plus at the State level; there are 600,000 at county and municipal-and that is where the heart of the problem is so we are going to lay out to the States this coming fall, here is a model on how to deal with the problem. There is a good database. I think we know what we are talking about.

Arizona is doing some good work in that area. But the other aspects of that Proposition 200 were ill-considered, we thought. Senator BINGAMAN. Thank you very much.

Senator ROBERTS. Senator Snowe.

Senator SNOWE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Just to follow up, General McCaffrey, on the chairman's questions concerning Mexico. Yes, it has been certified as cooperating in anti-drug efforts. But what accounts for the fact that their efforts have not been effective? After all, 80 percent of the cocaine and heroin and marijuana that comes to the United States comes through Mexico or Mexico is the source of it. So obviously it is a significant problem. I recognize we have a long border, 2,000 miles.

We have for years been working with Mexico in joint task force efforts, for training, intelligence sharing, resources, personnel. What accounts for Mexico's inability to grapple with this problem in any significant way?

General MCCAFFREY. I have been watching the Latin American region off and on since I came in the Army. I have really spent the last 6 years almost continuously involved in it. I do not pretend to be an expert, but there is nowhere I have not been, from Patagonia on up to the U.S.-Mexican border, and dealing with their leadership and trying to watch the evolution of this problem.

I would argue that there has been very little cooperation with Mexico on almost anything until 5 or 6 years ago. I am talking across the board-political, cultural, economic, judicial. The cooperation has grown incredibly just in a short period of time.

Since then, we have gone from almost no cooperation and contact, particularly since the Camarena murder, which just about ruptured it in the mid-1980's. But we are now back in there in a very cooperative manner. The press views it with some disbelief, but we have got a U.S. Mexican drug control strategy. It is not words; we put it together with hard work. We have got performance measures of effectiveness.

As I tell people, we now have incredible practical lines of working together. Our Coast Guard goes into Mexican ports, less than 24 hours' notice, pays for gas with a credit card. We train thousands of their soldiers. Janet Reno is working with Attorney General Madrazo to train judges. We do share intelligence. We have a tremendous ability to share air interdiction and sea interdiction information.

Mexico is making significant drug seizures now internally. Mexico, for 4 years in a row, has been the number one nation in drug eradication. Last year they were number two, inched out by Colombia. So, to be fair, when we examine the facts, there are enormous commitments by Mexico.

Now, having said that, it is clear that there are devastating problems. Mexico is in a revolution. They have gone from a single-party state with a closed economy to a multi-party democracy, where

they have lost control of the lower house. Half of the state governors are opposition party, the Mayor of Mexico City. They have got honest elections, with voter I.D. cards. They are a NAFTĂ economy, no longer statist economics. It is a big change going on.

So Attorney General Madrazo and this brave man, Mariano Heran, and his colleagues, are trying to build law enforcement institutions that satisfy their democratic needs. I would argue that is a 15-year process. I am sympathetic to it. I think we have a lot of work to do to stay with them.

But the challenge Minister Labastida came in-it is a document I might want to offer the Congress to review, dated 10 Februarymuch derided by the press. He said: Here is the problem we are dealing with. This is the Mexican's diagnosis. Crime has grown astronomically. It is increasingly violent and better organized. Ninety-five percent of the crimes are under state jurisdiction, where they do not have sufficient resources. There is impunity and inefficiency found in law enforcement. The administration of justice is inadequate. Here is what we are going to do about it. He lays out a plan.

He and President Zedillo, in my view, are actually trying to defeat what they believe, what they have publicly labelled, as the number one threat to the security of Mexico. But it is going to be a long time.

Senator SNOWE. How much does the corruption of the Mexican law enforcement-activities by the four cartels-undermine the country's ability to address this problem?

General MCCAFFREY. It is a significant challenge. Corruption and violence, lead or silver, is a fact of life. Of course not just in Mexico, but also Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay. So it is a tremendous challenge. But we think the senior leadership is committed to working with it. Hundreds of Mexican law enforcement officers and soldiers were murdered or injured trying to carry out these operations last year. They seized literally tens of tons of drugs.

So I think the will is there. But corruption and violence are major vulnerabilities to these struggling organizations.

Senator SNOWE. Do you see a pronounced change on the part of the attitude of the Mexican Government for these efforts?

General MCCAFFREY. My own characterization of it is it is night to day. If you go back 5 or 6 years ago, it probably was not a lack of seriousness of purpose, it was a total lack of contact between these two societies in any meaningful way.

Senator SNOWE. Are the problems along the border in the most congested areas or the least congested areas?

General MCCAFFREY. The drug problems are just awesome along the border. The two sides of that border look a lot more like each other than they do Washington or Mexico City. This is a huge, open border, 260 million people cross back and forth it each year; 82 million cars and trucks. It is the biggest open border on the face of the Earth. So drug abuse problems on the Mexican side are skyrocketing, and crime, violence and corruption on our side are way up. But drug abuse is a big problem in Mexico City. It is a complicating factor on their southern border, along the Yucatan Peninsula. This is the major threat to Mexican democracy.

Senator SNOWE. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Senator ROBERTS. General, thank you very much. We excuse you now as a witness. Wait a minute. How are you getting along on the nine non-intrusive procedures? You mentioned that in terms of inspection.

General MCCAFFREY. Well, I did not use the number nine. There are 39 ports of entry across that border. In our view, you simply have got to give the Customs Service the tools they need to do their job.

Senator ROBERTS. Well, that was the point. I do not want trade and I am talking about legitimate trade-which affects the wellbeing not only of Mexico, but this country, in terms of agriculture and all sorts of trade going on-you do not do it truck by truck by truck by truck.

General MCCAFFREY. Well, we have been. It does not work very well.

Senator ROBERTS. I know. That is the point. It does not work at all.

General MCCAFFREY. Right.

Senator ROBERTS. So we did fund efforts to go to the, I think you said non-intrusive inspection.

General MCCAFFREY. Inspection technologies, right.

Senator ROBERTS. Or the latest technology. If you need any additional assistance along those lines, please let us know. Because that is an area where we think we could be of help.

General MCCAFFREY. I agree. We are moving in the right direction. But we owe you a probably more coherent plan. We have got the first-generation stuff going out right now. It is in place. We will have it fielded in the coming 2 years.

Senator ROBERTS. We will check with you later on. Thank you, sir. I will let you go on your way.

General MCCAFFREY. Thank you, Senator.

Senator ROBERTS. General Wilhelm, have the Marines landed?
General WILHELM. Senator, how are you, sir?

Senator ROBERTS. Fine. Please, have a seat. General, please, make yourself comfortable. We are delighted to have you as a witness again. We always appreciate your testimony, your candor and your enthusiasm. You may summarize your statement. Rest assured, your entire statement will be made part of the record. Please, proceed when you are ready, sir.

STATEMENT OF GEN. CHARLES E. WILHELM, USMC,
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND

General WILHELM. Thank you, Senator Roberts.

Mr. Chairman, Senator Bingaman, I am pleased to have this opportunity to appear before the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee. The United States Southern Command area of responsibility has not been designated a major theater of war. As I recently stated in my most recent posture statement, the most pressing challenges to security and stability within the region are posed by nontraditional transnational threats.

The past 20 years have witnessed unparalleled and unprecedented democratic growth in the Caribbean and Central and South America, to the point that at this moment, 31 of the 32 nations in

our area of responsibility are functioning democracies, with free market economies. However, many of these are fragile and immature democracies. The biggest threat to their continued growth and development is the corrupting influence of criminal enterprises such as narcotics trafficking, insurgencies, domestic and international terrorism, alien smuggling, illegal trafficking in arms, money laundering, and organized crime in all of its many forms.

The nature of the threats that confront our theater create a strong convergence of interests between this committee and United States Southern Command. We are encouraged by the interest the committee has already demonstrated in our Command and its missions. The chairman's recent personal visit to our headquarters, and the lengthy and detailed discussions that occurred were especially encouraging. We hope that these contacts will not only continue, but will intensify.

Southern Command has two primary missions. One is regional engagement with the military and security forces of the 31 nations in the theater with whom the United States maintains normal relations. The other is support for the National and hemispheric struggle against illegal drugs and the havoc that they wreak not only on our society but on the societies of all other nations in the region, as well.

Our heads of state recognized this as a hemispheric problem at the most recent Summit of the Americas in Santiago, Chile. At every possible opportunity, I remind my military counterparts from throughout the region that, in varying degrees and in different ways, plague each and every one of our countries. Using Colombia as an example, I stressed to them that this is a progressive disease. If not treated today in a national sense, it can become life threatening tomorrow. My colleagues are beginning to get the message.

The past year has been a difficult and challenging one for Southern Command. When the negotiations for a post-2000 United States military presence in Panama were terminated in mid-1998, we were left with the difficult task of completely overhauling the theater architecture. We have had very little time in which to do it.

Today I am pleased to report to the committee that the final pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. As our forces depart Panama, they will flow into new operating locations from which I have every confidence we will be able to continue to adequately prosecute our two-part mission.

To summarize the progress that has been made, the United States Army South, commencing next month, will begin the movement from its current home at Fort Clayton, in Panama, to its new home at Fort Buchanan, in Puerto Rico. Our Special Operations Command South, also located in the Panama region, will move to Roosevelt Roads, in Puerto Rico.

Our intra-theater airlift assets and certain limited command and control capabilities of our Air Force component will move to several bases in Puerto Rico. Our presence at Soto Cano Air Base, in Honduras, will increase with the addition of additional assets from the 228th Aviation Brigade, in Panama, to the point that we will reach a peak strength of about 20 aircraft on the ground at Soto Cano.