Military's Role in the Implementation of the National Security Policy on Counterdrugs

摘要

There are those throughout our country that say we are gaining positive headway toward the counterdrug effort and that our government should begin to focus its efforts elsewhere. Others take the alternative view; that drug abuse is still prevalent and is actually increasing. Those with this second opinion believe the federal government should do more to curb this nationwide problem that is effecting the well-being of our citizens. Specifically, advocates of this latter viewpoint believe the Department of Defense (DoD) could and should do more to keep our borders free from the flow of drugs into our nation. As the DoD continues to review and redefine the services' roles and missions, some ask that it commit more of its resources to the nations' counterdrug effort. Will the mission belong to the active component of each service, or to the National Guard or Reserve forces. Or, will there be a mixture of responsibility throughout the 'Total Force'. This paper will provide a brief historical overview on the development of our nations' national counterdrug strategy, and review the basic components of that strategy through a discussion about the feasibility of its purported ends, ways, and means. The paper will then address the DoD involvement in the implementation of this strategy, and discuss alternatives and provide recommendations on how this author believes the military should structure itself to fight its piece of the nation's counterdrug effort.