NCJ Number
119501
Date Published
1989
Length
58 pages
Annotation
This report is an assessment of Federal capabilities for controlling airborne drug smuggling into the United States.
Abstract
Federal efforts to control airborne drug smuggling are aimed at smugglers using private aircraft to transport illegal drugs from foreign countries into the U.S. and are priced at $200 million per year. Air interdiction programs have resulted in the seizure of substantial amounts of drugs, although, these seizures are small compared to the amounts successfully smuggled into the U.S. Gaps exist in the radar coverage that the present air interdiction detection network provides, and all radar detection systems have inherent technical constraints that limit their abilities. Planned deployments of additional radar systems will improve detection capabilities, but would not provide constant coverage due to downtime caused by maintenance and weather. Spending additional millions of dollars on air interdiction programs may not be the most effective use of the limited resources available in the Federal administration.