3 Antitrust Division appropriation funding.

2 Expenditures for Rent, Communication and Utilities, and Supplies and Equipment were allocated from general Division accounts not identified by matter and used for multiple Division matters irrespective of commodity area.

4 Department of Justice Fees and Expenses of Witness Account.

Notes:

COORDINATION BETWEEN AGENCIES

Question. Department of Transportation officials have been quoted in recent press articles saying that the United States-Mexico border could be open to long-haul Mexican trucking operations by June of this year. As you know, last year the Congress required additional safety measures be implemented both at the border and by the Department of Transportation before the Administration could open the border to long-distance Mexican-domiciled trucks operating beyond the current commercial zones.

What level of coordination has there been between the Department of Transportation and your agencies on establishing or increasing operations at the border in anticipation of this influx of Mexican trucks? Please describe.

Answer. The Department of Transportation's (DOT) NAFTA Land Transportation Implementation Working Group includes representatives from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Customs Service, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division. The working group has met twice to make plans for a Land Transportation Conference to provide information to the United States, Canadian and Mexican carriers. The conference will be held May 28 through 31, 2002.

The DOT Land Transportation Standards Sub-committee (LTSS) met with Canadian and Mexican delegations in October 2001, to discuss issues relating to cross border operations including plans for an outreach program.

BACKGROUND CHECKS

Question. The United States is required by the USA PATRIOT Act to begin conducting criminal background checks on drivers of commercial motor vehicles that haul hazardous materials, yet there is no agreement for doing criminal background checks on Canadian and Mexican drivers that haul similar hazardous materials.

Answer. The DOT Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is the regulating authority for motor carriers. The FMCSA has published regulations in the Federal Register. Mexico-domiciled motor carriers, their vehicles and their drivers operating in the United States are subject to all of FMCSA's safety requirements. Section 350 of the DOT Appropriations Act prohibits Mexico-domiciled motor carriers from transporting hazardous materials in a placardable quantity beyond the border zones until the United States has completed an agreement with the Government of Mexico ensuring that drivers of such placardable quantities of hazardous materials meet substantially the same requirements as United States drivers carrying such materials.

Question. Given the security concerns associated with our borders since September 11th, how can we justify letting these drivers into the United States without holding them to the same standard that United States drivers will be held to?

Answer. Drivers must meet the DOT FMCSA standards. All aliens admitted to the United States must establish admissibility under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and Mexican and Canadian drivers who are inadmissible under the grounds of inadmissibility contained in section 212(a) of the INA are not eligible to enter the United States, unless they have obtained a waiver of inadmissibility. However, there is no specific ground of inadmissibility under the INA prohibiting the entry of drivers who have not complied with FMCSA standards. A Mexican driver must also apply to the Department of State and be approved for a B-1 (visitor for business) visa to enter the United States.

Question. What confidence do we have in the ability of the Canadian or Mexican governments to perform background checks on their drivers who haul hazardous materials on our roads? Will these background checks be performed to the same standards as the checks conducted on United States drivers?

Answer. The Canadian government has a comprehensive criminal database. We are not aware of what information is available to the Mexican government.

QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY SENATOR DANIEL K. INOUYE

METHAMPHETAMINE

Question. Background: The State of Hawaii, and in particular, the county of Hawaii, has a large and substantial problem with crystal methamphetamines (ice, meth, or crystal meth). As this drug spread across Asia, it first found a foothold in Hawaii, and then crossed the rest of the way, where it has quickly spread across the rest of the nation.

The crystal meth problem in Hawaii has reached crisis proportions not only because of the inordinately high incidence of meth abuse, but because of the many negative "side effects" that arise from the widespread production and use of the drug. The manufacture of ice in both urban and rural meth labs, of course, churns out the drug itself, but also pollutes the environment with toxic chemical byproducts. The drug itself creates dangerous behaviors during and immediately after use, as addicts plummet from their high into depression and desperate craving for more of the drug. The long-term health consequences of meth addiction are only just beginning to be understood.

Additionally, meth is extremely addictive, and has permeated all levels of society to the extent that cultures of family-based drug use have begun to manifest. Treatment of addiction, therefore, becomes even more problematic as traditional support networks, such as family and friends, are eroded as the high prevalence threat to the State of Hawaii spreads.

With this background in mind, I would like to ask you several specific questions about Department of Justice (DOJ) resources available to combat this pernicious threat to the State of Hawaii.

What DOJ resources are available to help in the detection and eradication of meth labs-particularly meth labs in remote and inaccessible rural areas such as those that abound in the county of Hawaii?

Answer. The Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) methamphetamine strategy addresses the diversion of precursor chemicals from legitimate commerce into this criminal activity. DEA has vigorously pursued those individuals and firms, both domestic and international, which have supplied clandestine methamphetamine laboratories. DEA has seized tons of pseudoephedrine destined for methamphetamine laboratories and will continue to do so as part of an overall strategy.

In 2002, approximately $70,473,000 was appropriated within the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) account for state and local law enforcement programs to combat methamphetamine production, to target drug hot spots, and to remove and dispose of hazardous materials at clandestine methamphetamine labs. COPS administers these funds. Within the amount provided, the conferees included $20,000,000 to be reimbursed to DEA for assistance to state and local law enforcement for proper removal and disposal of hazardous materials at clandestine methamphetamine laboratories. The President has included $20 million to continue these efforts in fiscal year 2003.

The Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) also provides funding to the State of Hawaii under its Byrne Formula Grant Program and to the state and its counties under its Local Law Enforcement Block Grant (LLEBG) program. Byrne Formula awards are made to the State Administering Agency, the Hawaii Department of the Attorney General, for distribution to the 4 counties (Hawaii, Maui, Kauai, and Honolulu city/county). The Attorney General's Office advertises the availability of the funds and receives proposals from the police department and the four prosecutor offices. Since fiscal year 1999, the State Attorney General has made subgrants of:

-$555,611 to the Kauai Police Department, the Maui Police Department, the Hawaii County Police Department, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and the Honolulu Police Department for the statewide narcotics task force. This funding has been applied to multi-jurisdictional task force programs that integrate federal, state, and local drug law enforcement agencies and prosecutors for the purpose of enhancing interagency coordination, exchanging intelligence, and facilitating multi-jurisdictional investigations.

-$599,738 to the Kauai Police Department, the Maui Police Department, the Hawaii County Police Department, and the Honolulu Police Department for programs to target the domestic sources of controlled and illegal substances, such as precursor chemicals, diverted pharmaceuticals, clandestine laboratories, and cannabis cultivation.

Under the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant Program:

-$963,172 has been awarded to Honolulu, Hawaii to support community prosecution and a drug court initiative, and $32,000 has been awarded for the detection of clandestine labs.

-Approximately $5,000 was provided to Maui County for a drug-court initiative. While the Byrne Formula and LLEBG programs are not requested in the 2003 President's budget, purposes funded therein remain eligible for funding under the new $800 million Justice Assistance Grant program, which provides grantees with a single-source funding mechanism. Byrne Discretionary funds are also authorized to be used for this purpose.

Question. What DOJ resources are available for the environmental clean up of meth lab sites?

Answer. Funding for the environmental clean up of meth lab sites is primarily available through funds made available to DEA by Congress through the COPS methamphetamine initiative although several jurisdictions are using part of their congressional earmark funds to accomplish this. In 2002, Congress has provided $20 million to DEA for such purposes. While funds may be used for these purposes under the Byrne Formula and LLEBG programs, this is a decision made by each state or local jurisdiction.

With regard to resources for the environmental cleanup of clandestine drug laboratories, DEA does not currently have a contractor in Hawaii to perform these services. No qualified contractor(s) submitted a proposal when DEA requested proposals in 1997. However, DEA did fund one cleanup each in fiscal years 1998 and 2000. As long as funding is available, DEA will fund cleanups (i.e., the removal of chemicals and contaminated apparatus) for both DEA and state/local seizures of clandestine drug laboratories in Hawaii through purchase orders.

Question. What DOJ resources are available for enhancing efforts to stop the sale of crystal meth?

Answer. In addition to the regular staffing levels and their cooperation with other federal and state and local agencies, DEA has made four successful deployments of one of its Mobile Enforcement Teams (MET) to Hawaii since September 2000. As their name implies, MET teams are deployed to provide help in those investigations where their assistance will be most effective.

Question. What DOJ resources are available for treating addiction to crystal meth?

Answer. Most DOJ drug resources are focused on investigation and prosecution of drug violations. Federal Government resources for drug abuse treatment are administered by the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Within the Department of Justice, DEA has no resources for drug treatment, though DEA's Demand Reduction Coordinators (DRC) and headquarters staff inform communities about effective treatment when conducting demand reduction training. In upcoming community mobilization training, a treatment component is included as part of the training.

Within the Office of Justice Programs, Byrne Formula Grant Program funds may be used to develop programs to identify and meet the treatment needs of adult and juvenile drug and alcohol dependent offenders and to develop programs to demonstrate innovative approaches to enforcement, prosecution, and adjudication of drug offenses and other serious crimes. Funding may also be available through OJP's Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) program for state and local jails, the Drug Courts program, and the Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program, all of which provide treatment services. These programs primarily target populations that have been incarcerated, are on probation or parole, or are facing adjudication.

Question. What DOJ resources are available to develop and implement innovative responses, such as the drug court program, to the crystal meth problem that break away from the traditional model of arrest, incarceration and treatment, parole, and release?

Answer. OJP's Drug Courts Program Office is available for this purpose. The State of Hawaii currently has two adult drug courts in operation, one on the island of Oahu and the other on the island of Maui. The Hawaii Drug Court Program also has a Family Court component that works with Child Protective Services parents. The Oahu drug court received its first clients in January of 1996. Since that time, the program has admitted approximately 500 individuals, graduating nearly 50 percent.

Despite the fact that 90 percent of clients in the Hawaii Drug Court program are methamphetamine dependent, grant applications from Hawaii's Drug Court Program do not specifically target methamphetamine treatment as there is currently no single proven methodology with methamphetamine abusers. The Hawaii Drug Court Program uses principles applicable to any dependency and applies techniques and components, such as careful assessments, which have been demonstrated as effective with meth users to provide the best individualized care within the restrictions of its resources. The program use a comprehensive approach in treating drug court clients as opposed to a more targeted approach.

DEA's demand reduction program recognizes the value of drug courts in helping communities deal with their drug abuse problem. DEA's new Integrated Drug Enforcement Assistance initiative, unveiled by DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson in December 2001, will promote the implementation of drug courts in communities as an effective tool in dealing with the drug abuse issue.

Funding under the Byrne Formula Grant Program and the Local Law Enforcement Grant Program is available to state and local agencies for innovative program