Drug Control: Oversight Needed to Prevent Acquisition of Unnecessary Equipment

摘要

By 1986, trafficking and use of illegal drugs had reached the point that thePresident declared such activity a threat to U.S. security. The drug epidemic remains a matter of national importance as the federal government continues to spend billions of dollars annually to combat the problem. In 1992 alone, an estimated $12 billion in federal funds will be spent to reduce both the supply of and demand for illegal drugs. These funds will be used to combat drug activity through wide-ranging initiatives on many fronts, from the jungles of South America to the streets of U.S. cities. More than $2 billion in fiscal year 1992 funding has been allocated to the shared interdiction missions of DOD, Customs, and the Coast Guard. A major part of that amount will be spent just to detect and monitor suspect drug-smuggling aircraft and vessels. DOD alone has allocated nearly a billion dollars to detection and monitoring in fiscal year 1992.