Bennett Calls for Greater Military Use in Drug War
Education Secretary William J. Bennett called Wednesday for greater use of the military and “whatever resources are necessary” to win the international drug war.
“I realize some may disagree with what I have to say, but this is the way I think. . . . We are in real danger of losing the war,” Bennett said on the third day of a congressionally mandated four-day White House conference on drugs.
The Reagan Administration has opposed federal funds to help state and local police fight drugs and has basically favored limiting military involvement to notifying the Coast Guard when ships, planes or surveillance posts spot possible drug shipments.
Bennett said he hoped the United States could work with other countries in the war against drugs, “but if need be we must consider doing this by ourselves, and we should consider broader use of military force against both the production and shipment of drugs.”
Top Administration Officials
Bennett was joined on the podium by several top Administration officials, including Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, Transportation Secretary James H. Burnley IV, Drug Enforcement Administrator John Lawn and Customs Commissioner William von Raab.
Those speakers generally praised the efforts by their respective agencies and by Reagan. Von Raab praised the President but said: “I have also seen in my six years too many bureaucrats who have tried to undermine the President’s efforts in this area.”
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