Role of the US Military in the War on Drugs (From The Latin American Narcotics Trade and US National Security, 1989, P 75-88, Donald J. Mabry, ed.)

• NCJ Number: 162260
• Author(s): D J Mabry
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: Greenwood Publishing Group
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

This article examines the use of the military in America's war on drugs.

Abstract

Problems of the military's direct involvement in the antidrug campaign include: interdiction on the high seas and at the border; use of the National Guard; potential corruption of the military; conflict between military intelligence gathering and civil liberties; arrest powers; implications for civil-military relations; and cost-effectiveness. The author suggests that: (1) the US Customs Service should be the lead agency in the antismuggling campaign, with the Coast Guard as one enforcement arm; (2) the military should fight real wars, not pseudowars such as the so-called war on drugs; (3) the military should not be given civilian police powers; (4) any military involvement should be limited to logistical support; (5) Congress and the Executive branch should make it clear that interdiction is no more than a holding action, the United States has no intention of violating other nations' sovereignty, and will not be used to eradicate or help to eradicate crops in other nations; (6) State governors, with the aid of the Department of Defense, should explore possibilities of using their National Guard units to supplement the work of State and local law enforcement; and (7) the United States should develop better means of border interdiction of all smuggled goods, not just illicit narcotics.