DOCUMENT RESUME ED 255 825 CG 018 157 TITLE Federal Drug Law Enforcement and Interdiction. Hearing before the Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control. House of Representatives, Ninety-Eighth Congress, Second Session, May 22, 1984. INSTITUTION Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control. REPORT NO SCNAC-98-2-4 PU., DATE 85 NOTE 211p.; Portions of document may be illegible because of small print. PUB TYPE Legal/Legislative/Regulatory Materials (090) EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS *Agency Cooperation; Cooperative Planning; *Crime; *Drug Abuse; Drug Legislation; *Federal Aid; Federal Programs; Government Role; Hearings; Illegal Drug Use; *Law Enforcement; *Narcotics; Shared Services IDENTIFIERS Congress 98th; *Drug Trafficking ABSTRACT This document contains testimony and prepared statements from the Congressional hearing on federal drug law enforcement. Statements are given from Congressman Claude Pepper, the staff director of the National Narcotics Border Interdiction System (NNBIS), an administrator from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), a commissioner from the United States Customs Service, an assistant director of the Criminal Investigative Division of the FBI, and a Vice Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. Congressman Pepper's testimony is focused on the problems of marine trafficking and other illegal entry of drugs into this country through Florida. The operation and effectiveness of the nation's narcotics enforcement and interdiction efforts are reviewed, and cooperative efforts between agencies, task force operations, and agency use of manpower and resources are discussed. Concern is expressed by Committee members about the broad-based, fragmented approach to narcotics enforcement and the continued introduction of different approaches, task forces, and agencies that are pooling their manpower. The usefulness of having one coordinator in charge of the overall narcotics effort, thus creating a line command is suggested by Committee members and responded to by agency representatives. Supplemental information includes responses to additional questions by the DEA, the NNBIS, the FBI, the Coast Guard, and the Customs Service. (NRB) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *************t********************************************************* FEDERAL DRUG LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTERDICTION HEARING BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON NARCOTICS ABUSE AND CONTROL HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETY-EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 22, 1984 Printed for the use of the Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control SCNAC-98-2-4 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EOUCATION FMB AT IONAl HI`iOUHCIS INFORAAA tION fINItH (11-111..1 rporothir rl as 4 . 1 , 0 1 1 IIf. 001 Of I of In mdflo In linto0VP 1..111,11.11 liti NI !lilt. milg ./ i/, tai NIL I II le 1.1111 v U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE :114 1 ISO WASHINGTON HMS, SELECT COMMITTEE ON NARCOTICS ABUSE AND CONTROL CHARLES B. RANGEL, New York, Chairman PETER W. RODINO, Ja., New Jersey BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York FORTNEY H. (PETE) STARK, California LAWRENCE COUOHLYN, Pennsylvania JAMES H. SCHEUER, New York E. CLAY SHAW, Ja., Florida CARDISS COLLINS, Illinois MICHAEL 0. OXLEY, Ohio DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii JOEL PRITCHARD, Washington FRANK J. GUARINI, New Jersey STAN PARRIS, Virginia ROBERT T. MATSUI, California GENE CRAPPIE, California DANTE B. FASCELL, Florida DUNCAN HUNTER, California WALTER E. FAUNTROY, District of TOM LEWIS, Florida Columbia WILLIAM J. HUGHES, New Jersey SAM B. HALL, Ja., Texas MEL LEVINE, California SOLOMON P. ORTIZ, Texas LAWRENCE J. SMITH, Florida EDOLPHUS "ED" TOWNS, New York Company' STAFF JOHN T. CUSACK,Chief of Staff Rictuum B. Lows III,Chief Counsel, Et.uarr A. Baown,Minority Staff Director (H) 3 CONTENTS Page Testimony of Hon. Claude Pepper, a Representative in Congress from the State of Florida 2 Testimony of Capt. L. N. Schowengerdt, Jr., Staff Director, NNBIS 15 Testimony of John C. Lawn, Acting Deputy Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration 43 Testimony of Alfred De Angelus, Deputy Commissioner, U.S. Customs Serv- ice . 47 gib Testimony of Oliver B. Revell III, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigative Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation 49 Testimony of Vice Adm. Benedict L. Stabile, Vice Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard 52 Supplemental information: DEA responses to additional questions 72 U.S. Customs Service responses to additional questions 92 U.S. Coast Guard responses to additional questions 107 FBI responses to additional questions 111 NNBIS responses to additional questions 122 Opening statement of Chairman Charles B. Rangel 129 Opening statement of the Honorable Claude Pepper 132 Statement of Capt. Nick Schowngerdt, NNBIS 138 Statement of John C. Lawn, DEA 150 Stater:ient of Alfred R. De Angelus, Customs Service 160 Statement of Oliver B. Revell, FBI 184 Statement of Vice Adm. Benedict L. Stabile, U.S. Coast Guard 200 FEDERAL DRUG LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTERDICTION TUESDAY, MAY 22, 1984 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SELECT COMMITTEE ON NARCOTICS ABUSE AND CONTROL, Washington, De. The select committee met, pursuant to call, at 9:15 a.m., in room B-318, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC, Hon. Charles B. Rangel presiding. Present: Representatives Charles B. Rangel, James H. Scheuer, Daniel K. Akaka, Solomon P. Ortiz, Lawrence J. Smith, Benjamin A. Gilman, and Duncan Hunter. Staff present: John T. Cusack, chief of staff; Richard B. Lowe III, chief counsel; Elliott A. Brown, minority staff director; George R. Gilbert, counsel; Edward H. Jurith; counsel; Michael J. Kelley, counsel; Martin I. Kurke, researcher; James W. Lawrence, minori- ty professional staff; and Marc R. Lippman, counsel. Mr. RANGEL. My sincerest apologies, Mr. Chairman, but the staff had not informed me that the hearing had been changed from 10 to 9, and, so, without going into my opening statement, I think I would- - Mr. PEPPER. You go right ahead, Mr. Chairman. You go right ahead with youryou go right ahead with your opening statement. Mr. RANGEL. Today, the Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control will be hearing about the operation and effectiveness of Federal drug enforcement interdiction efforts, and, hopefully, some of the statements that we have rendered will indicate some of the changes in communication between the Drug Enforcement Ad- ministration as well as the Treasury Department and the Justice Department so we can clear up exactly who is in charge. Certainly you, Mr. Chairman, and with the work of a couple of deputies, are trying to find out who's in charge of this administra- tion as relates to international crime, law enforcement and wheth- er it's Democrat or Republican, it's very difficult to determine ho really has the responsibility. Recently, we read a memo from the Drug Enforcement Adminis- tration saying the National Narcotic Border Interdiction System is not working, that its fraudulent and its puffing up the accom- plishments, and it appears that there is some question as to who is in charge of what. Congress does have a responsibility to come for- ward. I'm extremely pleased that, notwithstanding the fact that you have championed the cause of the aged and certainly assumed new (1 2 responsibilities in terms ofour leadership here in the House, you have never strayedaway from your concern as to what this curse is doing to our country and certainlyyour State has been hit and has been hit hard. And, as a matter of fact,your testimony doesn't cover it but your State has been usedas an example of how successful the Federal Government can be with its various task forces. (The full statement of Mr. Rangelappears on p. 129.1 TESTIMONY OF HON. CLAUDE PEPPER, AREPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA Mr. PEPPER. Mr. Chairman, I thankyou very much for your kind words. I remember very vividly the time thatI was chairman of the House Select Committeeon Crime, and you were one of the most important and influential members of thatcommittee. And, with the many hearingswe had in New York, when we had Carter of New York asour principal witness, and he showed us many pictures of young people dead with syringes in theirarms. They had taken heroin and shots and the like. So, this problem continues to plagueus, and I was delighted when you became the chairman of thiscommittee because, know- ing of your energy andyour wisdom and your dedication to this subject, I knew if anybody could do anythingabout it, you would. I m very grateful, therefore, Mr. Chairman,to be with you this morning. I'm keenly aware,as you are, about what this means to our country, an effective effort to interdict drugs coming intous from out of our shores. In the war on drugs,we are seeing a "Tet offensive" in south Florida right now. I havecome across some recent statistics which document the horrifying impact thatthe growing availability of co- caine is having on our community. The number of deaths attributableto overdoses of cocaine quad- rupled during the second half of 1983as compared to the first half of the year. Cocaine use accounts for 90 percent of all admissionsto Dade County drug treatmentprograms, up from 30 percent last year. Street drug samples submitted for laboratory analysisare show- ing that the quality of the cocainenow has improved. The cocaine is cut less frequently and adulterantsappear less often. The wholesale price of cocaine has declinedfrom $30,000 to $15,000 in the !astyear. It has recently been estimated that 18,000 flightsper year smug- gle narcotics into the United States. Lastyear, only 203 seizures were made. That means only 1 percent of the drugs whichare smuggled in by airare interdicted. Combine this with the fact that almost one-half of the drugs smuggled from Latin Americaare smuggled in aboard small, private planes, and itbecomes quite ob- vious that our nation's air interdictionprogram is totally inad- equate.