DOD COUNTERNARCOTICS: WHAT IS CONGRESS HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE, OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION APRIL 21, 2004 Serial No. 108-208 11.2005 Printed for the use of the Committee on Government Reform Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/congress/house 96-314 PDF U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 2004 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM DAN BURTON, Indiana TOM DAVIS, Virginia, Chairman CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut DOUG OSE, California RON LEWIS, Kentucky JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania ADAM H. PUTNAM, Florida JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida HENRY A. WAXMAN, California JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts DIANE E. WATSON, California STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California C.A. "DUTCH" RUPPERSBERGER, Maryland ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of Columbia JIM COOPER, Tennessee BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont (Independent) MELISSA WOJCIAK, Staff Director DAVID MARIN, Deputy Staff Director/Communications Director PHIL BARNETT, Minority Chief of Staff/Chief Counsel SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE, DRUG POLICY AND HUMAN RESOURCES J. MARC WHEAT, Staff Director NICHOLAS COLEMAN, Professional Staff Member and Counsel O'Connell, Tom, Assistant Secretary, Department of Defense, Special Op- erations and Low Intensity Conflict; Rear Admiral David Kunkel, U.S. Pacific Command; and Brigadier General Benjamin Mixon, U.S. South- Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by: Cummings, Hon. Elijah E., a Representative in Congress from the State 11 Kunkel, Rear Admiral David, U.S. Pacific Command, prepared statement Mixon, Brigadier General Benjamin, U.S. Southern Command, prepared O'Connell, Tom, Assistant Secretary, Department of Defense, Special Op- 16 DOD COUNTERNARCOTICS: WHAT IS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2004 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE, DRUG POLICY AND HUMAN RESOURCES, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:04 a.m., in room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Mark E. Souder (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Souder, Cummings, and Norton. Staff present: J. Marc Wheat, staff director and chief counsel; Nicholas Coleman, professional staff member and counsel; John Stanton and David Thomasson, congressional fellows; Malia Holst, clerk; Tony Haywood, minority counsel; and Cecelia Morton, minority office manager. Mr. SOUDER. The subcommittee hearing will come to order. Good morning. Because of the consistent jurisdictional focus of this subcommittee on the President's National Drug Control Strategy, we pay very close attention to demand reduction, treatment, and drug supply and interdiction initiatives. Our oversight activities continually evaluate departmental authorizations, appropriations, and the efficiency and effectiveness of departmental efforts. The President's budget request, now before Congress, asks for approximately $12.6 billion for the Strategy in 2005. The Department of Defense is to be appropriated almost 15 percent of that sum. The most compelling reason for my tenacity in this regard is the loss of life due to drugs in my district and all over this great Nation. This year, more than 21,000 Americans died from drug-related causes. We have never lost this many Americans annually to a single military or terrorist campaign. This staggering statistic is significant when placed in perspective: we have lost in excess of 600 brave Americans in Iraq since Operation Enduring Freedom began, which is about 2.9 percent of those lost to drugs over the same period of time. We have lost more Americans to drugs than were killed in any single terrorist act to date. It is vitally important that we maintain vigorous efforts to control the sources of supply for narcotics and to interdict them before reaching the United States. The Department of Defense has been appropriately authorized to conduct counternarcotics missions and was designated the lead department for many counternarcotics command, control, detection, monitoring, and training responsibilities in the 1989 DOD author (1) |