Under the U.S. National Drug Control Strategy, the United States has established domestic and international efforts to reduce the supply and demand for illegal drugs. The strategy includes five goals intended to integrate the budgets and activities of all organizations involved in counterdrug efforts. The goals focus on education, law enforcement, and treatment in the United States and on eradication, alternative development, interdiction, support for host nations, money laundering, and other issues outside the United States. Goal four of the National Drug Control Strategy is “to shield America’s air, land, and sea frontiers from the drug threat.” In its efforts to achieve this goal, the United States has efforts underway to detect, monitor, and interdict illegal narcotics moving through the transit zone. From 1986 to 1996, the United States spent about $103 billion on efforts to reduce drug supply and demand. About $20 billion of this amount was expended on international counternarcotics efforts, including $4.1 billion to support crop eradication, alternative development, and increased foreign law enforcement capabilities and $15.6 billion for interdiction activities. Funding for drug interdiction in the transit zone declined from about $1 billion in 1992 to $600 million in 1996. In 1988, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) was established to set priorities and objectives for national drug control, develop an annual drug control strategy, and oversee the strategy’s implementation. The U.S. Interdiction Coordinator, who reports to ONDCP, is responsible for coordinating the efforts of all U.S. agencies involved in drug interdiction. The Department of State coordinates U.S. efforts in host countries, including training provided by U.S. agencies. The Department of Defense (DOD) supports U.S. law enforcement agencies by tracking and monitoring suspected drug-trafficking activities. Within the transit zone, the U.S. Coast Guard is the lead agency for maritime drug interdiction and co-lead with the U.S. Customs Service for air interdiction. They provide aircraft and ships to assist with detection and monitoring activities. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is responsible for coordinating drug enforcement intelligence gathering overseas and conducting law enforcement operations. DEA’s activities in the Caribbean are managed by its Puerto Rico-based field division and in the Bahamas by its Miami field division. On September 17, 1997, the executive branch revised the National Interdiction Command and Control Plan that called for creating several joint interagency task forces that are intended to strengthen interagency coordination of U.S. drug control efforts. According to the revised plan, the Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF)-East, located in Key West, Florida, is responsible for detection, monitoring, sorting, and handoff of suspect air and maritime drug-trafficking events in the Pacific Ocean east of 92 west longitude, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, Central America north of Panama, and surrounding seas and the Atlantic Ocean. JIATF-East is composed of personnel from various defense and civilian law enforcement agencies. JIATF-South, located in Panama, focuses on source country initiatives and the detection and monitoring of suspect drug targets for either subsequent handoff to participating national law enforcement agencies or to JIATF-East for further monitoring. According to the Department of State’s 1997 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, about 760 metric tons of cocaine were produced in South America in 1996. Of this amount, U.S. officials estimate that about 608 metric tons moved through the transit zone destined for U.S. markets and 40 metric tons transited to Europe. The officials acknowledge, however, that estimates of the amount of cocaine that enters the United States are based on limited intelligence and other information and may not reflect the actual cocaine flow. Maritime conveyances continue to be the predominant means for smuggling cocaine into the United States. The Eastern Pacific and Western and Eastern Caribbean are the principal cocaine smuggling routes from South America to the United States. U.S. interagency 1996 estimates indicated that of the 608 metric tons of cocaine destined for the United States, 234 metric tons flowed through the Eastern Pacific, 264 metric tons flowed through the Western Caribbean, and 110 metric tons flowed through the Eastern Caribbean. About 52 percent of the U.S.-bound cocaine transited Mexico and Central America. As shown in figure 1, the United States is the principal destination for cocaine smuggled in the transit zone. U.S. interagency estimates for the first 2 quarters of 1997 showed that cocaine continued to be moved mostly by maritime conveyances and Mexico was the principal destination. According to interagency estimates, Mexico and Central America received 59 percent of the cocaine during this period. The Caribbean countries accounted for 30 percent of the flow, and 11 percent was shipped directly to the United States from source countries. Also, U.S. law enforcement agencies noted some changes in trafficking patterns in and around Puerto Rico. They attributed this change to increased U.S. law enforcement efforts in this area. According to the DEA Caribbean Field Division, the Eastern Caribbean corridor remains a prolific drug-trafficking route. South American traffickers continue to use the Bahamas and islands in the Leeward, Windward, and Hispaniola routes as staging and transshipment areas. Cocaine loads originate in Colombia or Venezuela and are moved by air or large motherships to smaller vessels in the Eastern Caribbean. The many unguarded airstrips and coastlines of the Caribbean islands make it easy for traffickers to refuel or store cocaine for further shipment directly to the United States or through Puerto Rico. According to DEA, Puerto Rico is a popular gateway to the United States and a principal staging destination for South American drug traffickers. Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica have also experienced increased drug-smuggling activity. For example, DEA has indicated that, in the past, the role of Dominicans in the drug business was limited to “pick-up crews” and couriers who assisted Puerto Rican smugglers. Today, Dominicans have sophisticated drug-smuggling operations and use advanced security systems and telephone communications to move and sell cocaine in the Caribbean and the United States, according to DEA. Even with heightened enforcement, offshore airdrops along the southern coast of the Dominican Republic and in the Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic continue. In addition, the Department of State has reported that thousands of kilograms of cocaine have been smuggled over the border from Haiti into the Dominican Republic, whose army has had little success in stopping the flow of drugs. Although the Eastern Caribbean remains a major route for illegal drug trafficking, the larger quantities of cocaine pass through Mexico via the Eastern Pacific and Western Caribbean corridors. U.S. interagency estimates show that, in 1996, 314 metric tons of cocaine reached Mexico for eventual movement to the United States through the Eastern Pacific and Western Caribbean channels. Of this amount, about 70 percent was shipped through the Eastern Pacific. Multiton shipments of cocaine depart Colombia, Panama, or Ecuador predominantly by noncommercial maritime means and travel north via the Pacific Ocean. Shipments reach Mexico directly or are unloaded at sites along the Central American coast to smaller vessels. The U.S. interagency also estimates that about 30 percent of the cocaine entering Mexico passed through the Western Caribbean. Overall cocaine seizures in the transit zone have increased from 61 metric tons in 1994 to 66 metric tons in 1995 and to 80 metric tons in 1996, according to JIATF-East. These amounts include seizures by U.S. agencies at sea and local law enforcement authorities in Mexico and Caribbean and Central American countries. Of the 1996 seizures, 53 metric tons were seized by transit zone countries and 27 metric tons were seized by the United States at sea. Seizures by Mexico and Central American countries accounted for about 40 of the 80 metric tons seized in 1996. Since 1993, cocaine traffickers have continued to increase their reliance on maritime vessels. According to JIATF-East, the number of known maritime drug-trafficking events has increased by 41 percent, from 174 events in 1993 to 246 in 1996. A “known event” is the confirmed movement of illegal drugs supported by seizure of drugs, observation of activities that can reasonably be attributed to drug smuggling, or reliable intelligence. Table 1 shows air and maritime known events for 1992-96. According to JIATF-East, the most significant maritime drug-smuggling modes of transportation involve “go-fast” boats in the Caribbean and fishing vessels in the Eastern Pacific. The “go-fast” boats are difficult to detect and interdict because they are small and capable of speeds that enable them to successfully evade law enforcement pursuits, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The boats are between 25 and 45 feet in length, can routinely carry up to a ton of cocaine per trip, travel predominantly by night, and have refueling capability to complete cocaine runs in one day. In the first quarter of 1997, 38 of the 69 known maritime events, or 55 percent, in the transit zone involved “go-fast” boats. As illustrated in figure 2, maritime smuggling events by “go-fast” boats is on an upward trend. DEA has also reported an increase in the use of canoes by Jamaican smugglers and “yolas” by Dominican smugglers. The yola is an open vessel with twin motors for propulsion and the ability to refuel rapidly. DEA reported that Bahamian and Jamaican transportation groups use yolas to smuggle cocaine loads into the Bahamas from either airdrops or boat-to-boat transfers off the coast of Jamaica. These groups then use the territorial waters of Cuba to shield their movements for eventual unloading to pleasure craft, which can easily blend in with inter-island boat traffic.