Drug War Disorganized, FBI Memo Says

Apparently moving to preempt GOP rival Bob Dole on an issue in tonight’s presidential debate, President Clinton disclosed Saturday that an FBI memorandum he has refused to release claims that the government had never “properly organized” its drug war.

But the president said his administration has responded to the criticism and better coordinated its anti-drug efforts.

The memo, from FBI Director Louis J. Freeh to Clinton, has emerged as a leading element in Dole’s assault on Clinton’s record on fighting drugs. Congressional Republicans subpoenaed the document but the White House refused to release it, citing the “executive privilege” that allows presidents to refuse to divulge internal advice and deliberations.

Dole has taken up the cause recently, arguing that Clinton is refusing to release the document because it shows that the administration has not fought drugs as vigorously as had the Republicans who occupied the White House for 12 years before Clinton arrived.

Talking to reporters Saturday morning as he prepared for the debate, Clinton conceded that the memo was critical of the federal government’s efforts--going back to the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson--to control the flow of drugs into the country.

“The federal government had never been properly organized in terms of who had jurisdiction to do what in the drug war,” Clinton said.

In the memo, delivered to the White House 18 months ago, Freeh also argued that there had been a “lack of any true leadership” in the government’s fight against the influx of cocaine and heroin and, according to a report in Newsweek magazine, warned that the administration’s anti-drug policy was “dangerously adrift.”

*

Clinton said Saturday that his administration had already heeded Freeh’s advice. For instance, he said, Freeh’s comments were taken into consideration when the administration, at the direction of Vice President Al Gore, reorganized its Office of National Drug Control Policy and appointed a new chief of that office, retired Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey.

“One of the reasons I wanted a general who had worked on drug interdiction as a drug czar is to try to create a greater sense of coordination between what the domestic law enforcement agencies, the military and all the people involved on the prevention and treatment side do together,” Clinton said in his first extensive remarks on the memo.

Clinton did not respond when asked why he had refused to release the memo. But later, Press Secretary Mike McCurry told reporters that the memo was not being released for two reasons: It contains classified information and Clinton is exercising his executive branch privilege to conduct a confidential deliberative process without informing Congress.

That argument clearly had failed to persuade the Dole camp, which is likely to try to raise the issue in tonight’s debate--if the moderator fails to do so.

After Clinton’s remarks, Dole spokeswoman Christina Martin said: “It’s time for Bill Clinton to move beyond denial and admit to the [drug] problem.”

Dole has cited statistics showing that drug use among American teenagers has more than doubled since Clinton took office, after falling steadily for the 12 years that began with President Reagan’s first year in office. The Republican candidate has argued that a lack of attention to the drug problem, combined with an attitude of permissiveness in the White House, has led many youths to conclude that drug use is not taboo.