The Need for Improved Intelligence Capabilities To Support Drug Interdiction Programs

Testimony was given concerning the need to improve the quality and timeliness of intelligence data in Federal drug interdiction efforts. Drug source and transit countries are valuable sources of intelligence that can be used to support interdiction efforts. Since the U.S. Customs Service and the Coast Guard do not have the authority to gather intelligence data overseas, they must rely on the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to provide this intelligence. However, the DEA foreign intelligence program does not place a high priority on developing intelligence that can be used to support interdiction efforts. Some intelligence processing and analysis has been centralized, but the agencies involved in drug interdiction could provide the organization centralizing the intelligence with more support and use its data to better advantage. DEA officials have agreed that more intelligence in support of interdiction efforts is desirable but pointed out that they are constrained by staff limitations and that the development of interdiction intelligence is only one of their numerous overseas drug enforcement responsibilities. Since the issuance of the report, more staff have been assigned to the organization which centralizes such information.