WHO'LL FIGHT THE DRUG PUSHERS?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100160091-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 91
• Publication Date: June 15, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100160091-7
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE
THE WASHINGTON POST
15 June 1981
JACK ANDERSON .1
Whorl Fight- the Drug -Push
ers? One of the most bitter bureau
cratic fights in Washington lately has
been over the overlapping jurisdiction
of agencies involved in the war against
drug smugglers. The Reagan admin-
istration so far has resisted suggestions,
that the troubled Drug Enforcement
Administration. be stripped ,? of :its du-
ties.
As early as the transrhodperiod,
Reagan intimates were-, beingl briefed
on the failures of the anti-drug ;pro-
gram. William J. Case ,:now CIA d%'
rector, was 'ven a parti ar y g oomy
appraisal. o - rn. an eyes-on y
transition ocumen
ie Drug or ement. Adnunis-
tration is generally, recognized . as -a
failure," the- paper stated. "Its basic
approach to stop drugs'. at'. the-
soirce - has not worked and cannot
work."
The analysts recommended instead
a six-Po'r't program that ? would, they
claimed,..: save- the government` $200
million a, year,- and be more effective
against the narcotics traffickers. The-
suggestions included giving back -to
the Customs Service responsibility for
anti-smuggling efforts employing the
Internal Revenue Service to - stack
illicit drug profits through, the tax
laws and using diplomatic pressure on
nations that produce drugs` or are
transit points in the international traf-
fic.
Dozens of- narcotics experts have
reportedly been;, urging the adminis,
tration to abolish .the DEA 'and return
its functions to. the F'BI, CIA- IRS
and Customs.. But high-level 'Justice
Department officials inform, me that
there are no firm plans even to shake
up the beleaguered drug agency.:::
, Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100160091-7