Drug Control: Delays in Obtaining State Department Records Relating to Colombia: Statement of Henry L. Hinton, Jr., Assistant Comptroller General, National Security and International Affairs Division, United States General Accounting Office, Before the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversi

• NCJ Number: 169765
• Author(s): H L Hinton Jr
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 5 pages
• Corporate Author: US Government Accountability Office
• Sale Source: Azimuth Inc.; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Presentation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

An official of the United States General Accounting Office (GAO) discusses the problems that GAO has encountered in conducting a review of drug law enforcement and counternarcotics activities by the United States in Colombia.

Abstract

The GAO has previously conducted reviews of counternarcotics activities in Colombia, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, and the Caribbean. In every case the State Department and embassy officials were cooperative in providing timely and independent access to information. In contrast, throughout the current review, the State Department has delayed and imposed undue restrictions on GAO access to documents. The State Department has established an elaborate process for considering GAO's document requests by screening documents through multiple, time-consuming reviews before their release to GAO. The State Department has also insisted that GAO review many released documents under restrictive conditions. Moreover, in some cases the State Department has deleted some information from these documents. Attempts to resolve these problems were unsuccessful. Thus, GAO formally notified the State Department on June 25, 1997 that the GAO work was being obstructed by delays in obtaining information. Thus, GAO cannot say with certainty at this time that it has been provided with all the information necessary to conduct an independent review of United States counternarcotics activities in Colombia.