Senate Supports Military Role in War on Drugs

The Senate voted overwhelmingly Friday to order the U.S. military to enter the war against illegal drug trafficking, approving a plan to give the Navy the power to stop drug boats on the high seas and make arrests.

The chamber voted 83 to 6 approval of an amendment outlining a wide-ranging anti-drug plan for the military.

The proposal provides more surveillance by Air Force and Navy planes, a bigger anti-drug role for the National Guard and more Pentagon helicopters for the Coast Guard and Customs Service.

Most Controversial Aspect

The most controversial provision would require Navy vessels to track suspected drug boats in international waters and would allow Navy officers to arrest suspected drug traffickers. The officers would be temporarily “deputized” by Coast Guard officers who would be aboard for that purpose.

The anti-drug provision was the main unresolved issue as the Senate worked toward approval of a bill authorizing defense spending for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.

Passage by the Democratic-controlled chamber will send the bill to a House-Senate conference committee to reconcile differences between it and the separate Pentagon bill approved Wednesday by the House. Both measures authorize $299.5 billion for the Pentagon.

One major difference will be the anti-drug provision. The House measure orders President Reagan to have the military “substantially halt” the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.

“I think we have a chemical war being directed against the United States,” said Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

But he warned that the military help will not solve the problem.

‘Can Improve It’

“Let no one believe that we’re going to pass a piece of legislation and solve the drug problem, but we can improve it. . . . I think we all know the drug epidemic in this country is far past the stage where interdiction came stop it.”

Other senators warned that drugs have become a national security menace, but they also acknowledged that the military plan will not solve the problem.

The loudest critic was Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), who accused his colleagues of “posturing on this.”

“We all get up, posture, make our little statements, and it isn’t going to make any difference,” said Glenn, arguing that the United States lacks a coordinated or effective nationwide anti-drug program.

“It’s absolutely ludicrous to think this will solve the problem,” he said.

The Pentagon has resisted a larger role in the war against drugs, saying the military is not trained or equipped for the assignment.

The Senate anti-drug plan was hammered out in three days of meetings by senators who put together parts of two competing proposals. Also involved in the talks were Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci and Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III.

Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) said, “We have reached a point where drugs are becoming an enemy equal to any foreign enemy.”

Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) said he formally opposed involving the military but said he changed his mind because “the drug flow has reached flood tide.”

‘Shows That We’re Serious’

Senate Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas said the plan “shows that we’re serious about drugs.”

An 1878 law, the Posse Comitatus Act, prohibits the military from enforcing civilian laws although it was amended in 1981 to permit the military to provide more help to civilian anti-drug agencies. Military planes and ships pass along surveillance information on suspected drug traffickers to law enforcement officials.

But the Posse Comitatus Act is only effective inside the territorial borders of the United States.

Voting against the amendment were Sens. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), Daniel J. Evans (R-Wash.), LowellP. Weicker Jr (R-Conn.) and Glenn of Ohio. As it worked through the bill Friday, the Senate:

- Killed, 56 to 37, a proposal by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) that would have permitted the Navy to have 14 deployable aircraft carriers rather than the 15 the service says it wants and needs. The proposal would have required the retirement of the aging carriers Midway and Coral Sea faster than the Navy wanted.

- Defeated, 56 to37, a plan by Sen. Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyo.) to spend $100 million to begin development of a system of protection against the accidental launch by an enemy of nuclear weapons. The plan would have used technology being studied for early-phase deployments of Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative.

- Rejected, 51 to 43, a proposal by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) to cut the budget for the Strategic Defense Initiative from $4.6 billion to $4 billion and use the extra $600 million for a variety of non-nuclear weapons. The House bill proposes $3.5 billion for SDI.