Homeland security efforts help drug war, but hurt other missions

Heightened security at the nation's borders following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is helping federal law enforcement agencies crack down on drug trafficking, but is taking resources away from other core missions, witnesses at a House hearing said Wednesday.

"We have seen mounting evidence to the effect that heightened counterterrorist measures by the Customs Service are strengthening our overall interdiction efforts," said Robert Bonner, commissioner of the U.S. Customs Service, during the hearing.

In the last three weeks, Customs has seized 3,900 kilograms of cocaine off the coast of Puerto Rico, according to Bonner. Customs' overall drug seizures were up 30 percent in October from October 2000 figures. "We believe drug traffickers held back shipments for several weeks" as security intensified at the southwest and northern borders after Sept. 11, Bonner said. Customs currently has 7,000 inspectors and canine enforcement officers stationed at the country's 301 ports of entry, which include major international airports, seaports and land border crossings. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has deployed 150 extra Border Patrol agents to ports of entry along the two borders, and plans to send another 100 agents to both sites in the near future, said INS Commissioner James W. Ziglar.

The drug trade and terrorism thrive on each other, said Asa Hutchinson, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, a Justice Department agency. Terrorist networks and the Taliban regime have both had funding from the drug trade, he noted.

"The law enforcement presence [at the nation's ports of entry] makes a difference" in helping to stem the flow of drugs into the country and the intense pressure at the borders has increased seizures, Hutchinson said. But drug traffickers are changing their patterns to circumvent the heavier security at ports of entry and in major cities since Sept. 11.

Despite the government's success using counterterrorist activities to disrupt the drug trade, the resources of law enforcement agencies like Customs, INS and the Coast Guard have been stretched to the limit since Sept. 11. Without additional resources, it may be difficult for those agencies to effectively accomplish their core missions along with their new homeland security duties, witnesses said.

"We have already returned many of our assets to law enforcement missions such as drug interdiction and fisheries enforcement," said Admiral James M. Loy, head of the Coast Guard. "We have also made a great effort to find a sustainable and effective balance among all our missions, but at the current resource level, we will need a boost to do all those things."

The Coast Guard plays a pivotal role in maritime security and the agency's resources were already stretched thin before Sept. 11, according to Loy. Customs inspectors have been working 12 to 16 hours, six to seven days a week, Bonner said. And INS inspectors and Border Patrol agents have amassed 125,000 additional overtime hours since Sept. 11, according to Ziglar.

"Devising ways to lessen the strain on our people and our resources is a serious challenge, and one that we must face realistically," Bonner said.

Ziglar was more blunt on the impact Sept. 11 has had on the INS. "The strain on our agency and employees is huge," he said.