It is a pleasure to appear before you today to discuss Coast Guard drug interdiction efforts in the Transit Zone. The Coast Guard is the lead agency for maritime drug interdiction and shares lead agency responsibility for air interdiction with the Customs Service. As the only Armed Service with law enforcement authority, the Coast Guard is on the front lines, defending our nation's borders against the constant threat posed by the smuggling of illicit drugs.
Illegal drugs continue to be a significant societal problem and remain an enforcement challenge.
According to the Interagency Assessment of Cocaine Movement, in calendar year 2000, an estimated 645 metric tons of cocaine left source countries en route to the United States. The Coast Guard supports the balanced approach, and we work closely with our interagency partners to meet NDCS objectives. The Coast Guard provides crucial law enforcement assets and capabilities essential to reducing the supply of illegal drugs. Goal Four of the NDCS requires us to shield America's frontiers from illegal drugs and sets out clear performance measures. These measures call for us to increase the seizure rate of non-commercial maritime flow of cocaine through the Transit and Arrival Zones to 18.7 percent by 2002 and 28.7 percent by 2007, using the 1996 seizure rate of 8.7 percent as our base year performance measure.