News

ACCESSION 
NUMBER:350026

FILE ID:LEF309

DATE:06/22/94

TITLE:U.S. PLANS TO WAIVE PARTS OF LAW HAMPERING DRUG WAR (06/22/94)

TEXT:*94062209.PFL  LEEWAY FOR DRUG INTERDICTION IN PERU, COLOMBIA

*LEF309 06/22/94*

U.S. PLANS TO WAIVE PARTS OF LAW HAMPERING DRUG WAR

(SP) (Talks with Colombia, Peru underway - LSI307) dc (600)

By Daniel Cento

USIA Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration proposes to waive provisions of a

U.S. antiterrorism law hampering the war on illegal drug trafficking in

Colombia, Peru, and other countries.



The policy change, Lee P. Brown, director of the Office of National Drug

Control Policy (ONDCP), told a news conference June 22, would give

President Clinton authority to resume the exchange of drug trafficking

intelligence and other anti-narcotics assistance to Colombia and Peru.  The

proposal would allow certain countries, under defined circumstances, to

down civilian aircraft suspected of transporting illicit narcotics.



Existing U.S. laws -- drafted with the intent of penalizing state-sponsored

terrorism -- forbid the sharing of intelligence and certain types of

assistance with governments that fire upon civilian aircraft.  It was under

these legal provisions that President Clinton was obligated to temporarily

suspend the sharing of intelligence with Colombia and Peru.



Negotiations with Colombia and Peru are underway, Brown said, but the

Clinton proposal must be approved by Congress.



"If the president determines that a (foreign) country faces a national

security threat from the trafficking in illicit drugs and that the country

has appropriate procedures in place to protect innocent aircraft," Brown

said, "then those countries would be exempt from criminal liability.  This

exemption would also extend to the assistance given by the U.S. government

to those countries."



Brown said, "The temporary suspension of sharing certain types of

information with the governments of Colombia and Peru in no way reflects

any desire to change this administration's policy of giving full support to

the democracies in Latin America in our mutual fight against illegal

narcotics smuggling....



"An interagency review of the legal issues concluded that our domestic law

precluded sharing information with countries that used that information to

shoot down civil aircraft....  The change we are proposing recognizes the

extreme narcotics situation faced by Colombia and Peru, while insisting on

procedures to ensure the protection of innocent aircraft.  It reflects both

our commitment to the international counternarcotics effort and our support

for civil aviation."



Amid concerns that this proposal might give political license to governments

to fire on civilian airplanes on the pretext that they might be

transporting illicit drugs, Brown made clear that in the "unique

circumstances in Colombia and Peru....  we have the most effective

counternarcotics strategy as possible in this hemisphere."



"We should be able to use the intelligence necessary to prevent those drug

trafficking organizations from using their airspace with impunity," he

said.



"We want to make sure there is no force used on commercial aircraft flying

scheduled routes," he added.



1rown listed "certain obvious" precautions to be taken before any plane is

ever fired upon, such as visual identification of suspect aircraft to

determine if they are properly registered, formal notification of zones

where drug flights take place, repeated radio contact to make sure the

suspect plane lands at a designated airfield, and even "shots across the

bow."



He said the United States has sent high-level delegations to both countries

to discuss the proposed legislation, which he called "the most effective

way in which we can reinstate a full sharing of drug intelligence with

Colombia and Peru."



Brown has spoken to the ambassadors of both countries here to inform them of

the proposed legislation and is awaiting their official response.  Both, he

said, are willing to work with the United States on the issue.



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