SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Western Hemisphere Drug Elimination Act’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings and statement of policy.
TITLE I—ENHANCED SOURCE AND TRANSIT COUNTRY
COVERAGE
Sec. 101. Expansion of aircraft coverage and operation in source and transit
countries.
Sec. 102. Expansion of maritime coverage and operation in source and transit
countries.
Sec. 103. Expansion of radar coverage and operation in source and transit
countries.
TITLE II—ENHANCED ERADICATION AND INTERDICTION
STRATEGY IN SOURCE COUNTRIES
Sec. 201. Additional eradication resources for Colombia.
Sec. 202. Additional eradication resources for Peru.
Sec. 203. Additional eradication resources for Bolivia.
Sec. 204. Additional eradication resources for Mexico.
Sec. 205. Miscellaneous additional eradication resources.
Sec. 206. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.
Sec. 207. Report on transferring international narcotics assistance activities to
a United States law enforcement agency.
TITLE III—ENHANCED ALTERNATIVE CROP DEVELOPMENT SUP-
PORT IN SOURCE ZONE AND MYCOHERBICIDE RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT
Sec. 301. Alternative crop development support.
Sec. 302. Authorization of appropriations for Agricultural Research Service
counterdrug research and development activities.
Sec. 303. Master plan for mycoherbicides to control narcotic crops.
TITLE IV—ENHANCED INTERNATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
TRAINING
Sec. 401. Enhanced international law enforcement academy training.
Sec. 402. Enhanced United States drug enforcement international training.
Sec. 403. Provision of nonlethal equipment to foreign law enforcement organi-
zations for cooperative illicit narcotics control activities.
TITLE V—ENHANCED DRUG TRANSIT AND SOURCE ZONE LAW
ENFORCEMENT OPERATIONS AND EQUIPMENT
Sec. 501. Increased funding for operations and equipment.
Sec. 502. Sense of the Congress regarding priority of drug interdiction and
counterdrug activities.
Sec. 503. Provision of assistance by the Armed Forces to the Immigration and
Naturalization Service and Customs Service.
TITLE VI—RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS
Sec. 601. Authorizations of appropriations.
TITLE VII—CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS ON PORT
EMPLOYEES
Sec. 701. Background checks.
Sec. 702. Definition.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND STATEMENT OF POLICY.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings:
(1) Teenage drug use in the United States has
doubled since 1993.
(2) The drug crisis facing the United States is
a top national security threat.
(3) The spread of illicit drugs through United
States borders cannot be halted without an effective
drug interdiction strategy.
(4) Effective drug interdiction efforts have been
shown to limit the availability of illicit narcotics,
drive up the street price, support demand reduction
efforts, and decrease overall drug trafficking and
use.
(5) A prerequisite for reducing youth drug use
is increasing the price of drugs. To increase price
substantially, at least 60 percent of drugs must be
interdicted.
(6) In 1987, the national drug control budget
maintained a significant balance between demand
and supply reduction efforts, illustrated as follows:
(A) 29 percent of the total drug control
budget expenditures for demand reduction pro-
grams.
(B) 38 percent of the total drug control
budget expenditures for domestic law enforce-
ment.
(C) 33 percent of the total drug control
budget expenditures for international drug
interdiction efforts.
(7) In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s,
counternarcotic efforts were successful, specifically
in protecting the borders of the United States from
penetration by illegal narcotics through increased
seizures by the United States Coast Guard and
other agencies, including a 302 percent increase in
pounds of cocaine seized between 1987 and 1991.
(8) Limiting the availability of narcotics to
drug traffickers in the United States had a promis-
ing effect as illustrated by the decline of illicit drug
use between 1988 and 1991, through a—
(A) 13 percent reduction in total drug use;
(B) 35 percent drop in cocaine use; and
(C) 16 percent decrease in marijuana use.
(9) In 1993, drug interdiction efforts in the
transit zones were reduced due to an imbalance in
the national drug control strategy. This trend has
continued through 1995 as shown by the following
figures:
(A) 35 percent for demand reduction pro-
grams.
(B) 53 percent for domestic law enforce-
ment.
(C) 12 percent for international drug inter-
diction efforts.
(10) Supply reduction efforts became a lower
priority for the Administration and the seizures by
the United States Coast Guard and other agencies
decreased as shown by a 68 percent decrease in the
pounds of cocaine seized between 1991 and 1996.
(11) Reductions in funding for comprehensive
interdiction operations like OPERATION GATE-
WAY and OPERATION STEELWEB, initiatives
that encompassed all areas of interdiction and at-
tempted to disrupt the operating methods of drug
smugglers along the entire United States border,
have created unprotected United States border areas
which smugglers exploit to move their product into
the United States.
(12) The result of this new imbalance in the
national drug control strategy caused the drug situa-
tion in the United States to become a crisis with se-
rious consequences including—
(A) doubling of drug-abuse-related arrests
for minors between 1992 and 1996;
(B) 70 percent increase in overall drug use
among children aged 12 to 17;
(C) 80 percent increase in drug use for
graduating seniors since 1992;
(D) a sharp drop in the price of 1 pure
gram of heroin from $1,647 in 1992 to $966 in
February 1996; and
(E) a reduction in the street price of 1
gram of cocaine from $123 to $104 between
1993 and 1994.
(13) The percentage change in drug use since
1992, among graduating high school students who
used drugs in the past 12 months, has substantially
increased—marijuana use is up 80 percent, cocaine
use is up 80 percent, and heroin use is up 100 per-
cent.
(14) The Department of Defense has been
called upon to support counter-drug efforts of Fed-
eral law enforcement agencies that are carried out in
source countries and through transit zone interdic-
tion, but in recent years Department of Defense as-
sets critical to those counter-drug activities have
been consistently diverted to missions that the Sec-
retary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff consider a higher priority.
(15) The Secretary of Defense and the Chair-
man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, through the De-
partment of Defense policy referred to as the Global
Military Force Policy, has established the priorities
for the allocation of military assets in the following
order: (1) war; (2) military operations other than
war that might involve contact with hostile forces
(such as peacekeeping operations and noncombatant
evacuations); (3) exercises and training; and (4)
operational tasking other than those involving hos-
tilities (including counter-drug activities and human-
itarian assistance).
(16) Use of Department of Defense assets is
critical to the success of efforts to stem the flow of
illegal drugs from source countries and through
transit zones to the United States.
(17) The placement of counter-drug activities in
the fourth and last priority of the Global Military
Force Policy list of priorities for the allocation of
military assets has resulted in a serious deficiency in
assets vital to the success of source country and
transit zone efforts to stop the flow of illegal drugs
into the United States.
(18) At present the United States faces few, if
any, threats from abroad greater than the threat
posed to the Nation’s youth by illegal and dangerous
drugs.
(19) The conduct of counter-drug activities has
the potential for contact with hostile forces.
(20) The Department of Defense counter-drug
activities mission should be near the top, not among
the last, of the priorities for the allocation of De-
partment of Defense assets after the first priority
for those assets for the war-fighting mission of the
Department of Defense.
(b) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It is the policy of the
United States to—
(1) reduce the supply of drugs and drug use
through an enhanced drug interdiction effort in the
major drug transit countries, as well support a com-
prehensive supply country eradication and crop sub-
stitution program, because a commitment of in-
creased resources in international drug interdiction
efforts will create a balanced national drug control
strategy among demand reduction, law enforcement,
and international drug interdiction efforts; and
(2) support policies and dedicate the resources
necessary to reduce the flow of illegal drugs into the
United States by not less than 80 percent by De-
cember 31, 2001.
TITLE 
I—ENHANCED 
SOURCE
AND TRANSIT COUNTRY COV-
ERAGE
SEC. 101. EXPANSION OF AIRCRAFT COVERAGE AND OPER-
ATION IN SOURCE AND TRANSIT COUNTRIES.
(a) DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY.—Funds are
authorized to be appropriated for the Department of the
Treasury for fiscal years 1999, 2000, and 2001 for the
enhancement of air coverage and operation for drug source
and transit countries, as follows:
(1) For procurement of 10 P–3B Early Warn-
ing aircraft for the United States Customs Service
to enhance overhead air coverage of drug source
zone countries, the total amount of $430,000,000.
(2) For the procurement and deployment of 10
P–3B Slick airplanes for the United States Customs
Service to enhance overhead air coverage of the drug
source zone, the total amount of $150,000,000.
(3) For each of fiscal years 2000 and 2001 for
operation and maintenance of 10 P–3B Early Warn-
ing aircraft for the United States Customs Service
to enhance overhead air coverage of drug source
zone countries, $23,500,000.
(4) For each of fiscal years 1999, 2000, and
2001 for personnel for the 10 P–3B Early Warning
aircraft for the United States Customs Service to
enhance overhead air coverage of drug source zone
countries, $12,500,000.
(5) For each of fiscal years 2000 and 2001 for
operation and maintenance of 10 P–3B Slick air-
planes for the United States Customs Service to en-
hance overhead coverage of the drug source zone,
$23,500,000.
(6) For each of fiscal years 1999, 2000, and
2001 for personnel for the 10 P–3B Slick airplanes
for the United States Customs Service to enhance
overhead air coverage of drug source zone countries,
$12,500,000.
(7) For construction and furnishing of an addi-
tional facility for the P–3B aircraft, 6,000,000.
(8) For each of fiscal years 1999, 2000, and
2001 for operation and maintenance for overhead air
coverage for Colombia, $6,000,000.
(9) For each of fiscal years 1999, 2000, and
2001 for operation and maintenance for overhead air
coverage for Bolivia, $2,000,000.
(10) For each of fiscal years 1999, 2000, and
2001 for operation and maintenance for overhead air
coverage for Peru, $6,000,000.
(11) For each of fiscal years 1999, 2000, and
2001 for operation and maintenance for overhead
coverage for the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific re-
gions, $25,000,000.
(12) For purchase and for operation and main-
tenance of 3 Schweizer RU–38A observation aircraft
(to be piloted by pilots under contract with the
United States), the total amount of $16,500,000, of
which—
(A) $13,500,000 is for procurement; and
(B) $1,000,000 for each such fiscal year is
for operation and maintenance.
(b) REPORT.—Not later than January 31, 1999, the
Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary
of State and the Director of Central Intelligence, shall
submit to the Committee on National Security, the Com-
mittee on International Relations, and the Permanent Se-
lect Committee on Intelligence of the House of Represent-
atives and to the Committee on Armed Services, the Com-
mittee on Foreign Relations, and the Select Committee on
Intelligence of the Senate a report examining the options
available in the source and transit zones to replace How-
ard Air Force Base in Panama and specifying the require-
ments of the United States to establish an airbase or air-
bases for use in support of counternarcotics operations to
optimize operational effectiveness in the source and transit
zones. The report shall identify the following:
(1) The specific requirements necessary to sup-
port the national drug control policy of the United
States.
(2) The estimated construction, operation, and
maintenance costs for a replacement counterdrug
airbase or airbases in the source and transit zones.
(3) Possible interagency cost sharing arrange-
ments for a replacement airbase or airbases.
(4) Any legal or treaty-related issues regarding
the replacement airbase or airbases.
(5) A summary of completed alternative site
surveys for the airbase or airbases.
(c) TRANSFER OF AIRCRAFT.—The Secretary of the
Navy shall transfer to the United States Customs Serv-
ice—
(1) ten currently retired and previously identi-
fied heavyweight P–3B aircraft for modification into
P–3 AEW&C aircraft; and
(2) ten currently retired and previously identi-
fied heavyweight P–3B aircraft for modification into
P–3 Slick aircraft.
SEC. 102. EXPANSION OF COAST GUARD DRUG INTERDIC-
TION.
(a) OPERATING EXPENSES.—For operating expenses
of the Coast Guard associated with expansion of drug
interdiction activities around Puerto Rico, the United
States Virgin Islands, and other transit zone areas of op-
eration, there are authorized to be appropriated to the
Secretary of Transportation $129,000,000 for each of fis-
cal years 1999, 2000, and 2001. Such amounts shall in-
clude (but are not limited to) amounts for the following:
(1) For deployment of intelligent acoustic detec-
tion buoys in the Florida Straits and Bahamas.
(2) For a nonlethal technology program to en-
hance countermeasures against the threat of trans-
portation of drugs by so-called Go-Fast boats.