U.S. Beefing Up Southwest Drug Patrol

Moving to disrupt the flow of about one-third of the heroin, cocaine and marijuana entering the United States, the Administration today will announce the assignment of hundreds of federal agents and a number of radar aircraft to the 2,000-mile Southwest border with Mexico.

In a press conference at FBI headquarters, Vice President George Bush and Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III will detail the interagency effort, called Operation Alliance, which Administration officials are ranking as the most extensive drug interdiction program attempted along the nation’s borders.

To be phased in over a two-year period, the effort includes:

--Hiring 189 new agents and transferring more than 175 others to the border area.

--Broadening the search and investigative authority for hundreds of agents already in the Southwest.

--Using the newly assigned military equipment.

--Hiring 60 federal prosecutors to handle the anticipated caseload.

In a recent letter to Meese, five senators from border states, including Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) and Pete Wilson (R-Calif.), accused the Administration of putting border drug enforcement on “the back burner.”

‘On-Again, Off-Again’

“Unveiling of the Administration plan has been announced and postponed at least three times,” the senators said in an Aug. 5 letter. “This on-again, off-again approach to a Southwest border plan has only created the impression of Administration infighting over the elements of the plan; lack of a cohesive strategy; erosion of certain elements of the plan; or lack of will on the part of certain parts of the Administration to move out aggressively to put more enforcement resources on the drug-prone Southwest border.”

It was not clear Wednesday where the more than $250 million required for the campaign would come from. In June, responding to a plan for a stepped-up Air Force role in drug interdiction suggested by Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Glenn English (D-Okla.), Meese proposed that Congress appropriate $266 million for sophisticated military equipment, more prosecutors and Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

Congress has not acted on that request, and in recent days lawmakers have been advancing much more ambitious, costly proposals as officeholders scramble to deal with what seems to be rising public concern over the drug problem.

The military equipment required by Operation Alliance includes five radar balloons, four E-2C radar airplanes, two C-130 aircraft equipped with special radar and six helicopters. The ground-moored balloons, fitted with radar transmitters, provide radar coverage of the border with the assistance of the E-2Cs.

Agencies taking part in the operation include the Treasury Department’s Customs Service, Internal Revenue Service, Secret Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the Justice Department’s FBI, DEA, Immigration and Naturalization Service and Marshals Service; all military services under the Defense Department; the Transportation Department’s Coast Guard and Federal Aviation Administration; the State Department; various elements of the intelligence community, and the National Guard.

State and local law enforcement agencies from California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona also will participate in the operation.