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Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, about four years ago if I remember correctly, we refused that request, and put those moneys back in for BATF to continue operation.

I am most interested in what Customs is doing. I have been all over the country looking at your operations. I went to Hawaii, for example, and found what was being done there with the interdiction of narcotics. Do you know that Customs does not have a single dog in all of Hawaii that is used for the interdiction of narcotics, except one that is borrowed from Post Office? There is only one dog in all of Hawaii, and that animal can only work three hours out of every 24.

So the rest of the time there is no dog sniffing the packages that come in from Hawaii, and it is well known that the marijuana that is grown in Hawaii, which is very high grade, is sent by mail to the mainland. Customs knows that. But I feel sorry for those agents because they sit there and say, "What can we do?" They know what can be done but the administration is not helping out.

I know you have heard this before and you have heard me say this before. But I wanted to again stress that even though Customs is an excellent organization, and does a fine job with the resources it has, it could do a lot more if the administration stopped trying to reduce Customs personnel and budget which prevents you from doing one of your prime duties, the interdiction of narcotics.

Then one more thing. I defend Customs because the personnel that I have met are all excellent individuals, but I also defend Customs because it is a revenue-producing agency of the Federal Government. For every dollar that we spend in Customs, we get $17 in return. Any business man would be happy to go into a venture where he or she could set back $17 for every dollar invested. I would be happy to go into a venture such as that anytime.

I am going to let it be known at every meeting that I go to that an important agency is not getting the help that it should have from the Federal Government, and that we in the committee are going to do everything we can to help you in the near future.

I know it is not a popular stand with the administration, but I feel you fellows are getting rooked right along. They are patting you on the back and at the same time taking away the very tools that you need to do your job.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Logan, recently Commissioner von Raab said that our borders were a sieve for drugs coming into the United States. What percentage do you use now as to what is being interdicted by Customs as to drugs coming into the United States?

Mr. LOGAN. We base our estimates on national intelligence esti

mates.

Mr. RANGEL. What figures are you using now?

Mr. LOGAN. About 30 percent on marijuana, Southwest border, 30 percent on cocaine and I believe just under 30 percent for heroin.

Mr. RANGEL. How do you explain that? In your testimony today you talked a total number of pounds of cocaine seized so far this year is over 1900, and then, just as a matter of fact, we pick up the Times and they talk about a Customs-DEA seizure of 4,600 pounds of cocaine. Is there any relevancy to the-you know, you have one annual amount, this is just one seizure here, twice the amount.

Mr. LOGAN. I think there is some relationship between the two. Many of the techniques that the smugglers have used in the Southest we are onto and are beginning to use those in the Southwest. For about the last 5 years Miami has been that focal point, the Southeast coast has been that focal point for drugs coming in from Central and South America. That is beginning to change.

Much of the poundages that you would see in the Southeast are beginning to show up in the Southwest. I don't know of 4,600 pounds of cocaine, but we have, between DEA and various smuggling operations, have received 600 or 700 pounds of cocaine. We are trying to take the techniques learned in the Southeast and apply those in the Southwest, with whatever type of changes are needed for our geography here, and they are beginning to work.

Mr. RANGEL. That is what I don't know, because the impression from your Commissioner that if we doubled the Customs agency and did bring in advanced technology, that our borders are so wide open that we would not make any appreciable decrease in the amount of drugs coming into our country.

Mr. LOGAN. I would never contradict my Commissioner.
Mr. RANGEL. Do you share that view?

Mr. LOGAN. No, sir, I don't.

Mr. RANGEL. He makes it publicly.

Mr. LOGAN. I think what the Commissioner is talking about is what we have to work with now. I think we are starting to make dents in it. I don't think we have made an appreciable decrease in it yet, but I think it can be done.

Mr. RANGEL. It is confusing, to say the least, that the administration is constantly cutting back on the resources as the Congress pushes you to do more and to be more successful in this thing. But you are not the person that is able to respond to the queries that he was talking about, and I doubt Commissioner von Raab knows what is going on, but we can't find who is in charge of, who is coordinating this effort. You wouldn't take a guess as to what name I should look to in Washington?

Mr. LOGAN. The particular instructions I am operating under, Mr. Chairman, or my direction would come from the Attorney General and the Vice President, through NNBIS, as a part of Operation Alliance.

Mr. RANGEL. The Vice President?

Mr. LOGAN. Yes, sir.

Mr. RANGEL. It is that bad. OK. Mr. Dymally.

Mr. DYMALLY. I have occasion to enter a port every now and then and I find that our custom officers are very dedicated people but wholly understaffed. I never pass through a customs without someone whispering to me about being cut back in overtime or cut back in staff.

With reference to Hawaii-and I want this in the record-they are so interested in trying to find out what suits you bring in from Taiwan that they let narcotics people get by. They are the most hostile customs port of entry that I have encountered in 40 years of travel, even rude to Members of Congress, and I have been waiting for an appropriate committee hearing to echo my frustrations.

In fact, I plan to visit Hawaii some time just to complain to the director there about the treatment accorded to Congressman Dixon

and me in 1981, where the supervisor deliberately took us away from one line into the police line and harassed the heck out of us. I complained to Congressman Heftel about it and I have an opportunity to put it on the record. In fact, I have been known to fly from Tokyo to Seoul just to avoid going into Hawaii, because they are so hostile.

And this doesn't only come from me. I see one of my constituents shaking her head. I have had complaints from people traveling abroad that they would avoid Hawaii. I met two Americans at the Northwest ticket counter in Seoul who were trying to rearrange their travel to avoid going to Hawaii and went all the way to Alaska and Seattle because of the harassment there.

I think they need to be vigilant, but there comes a time when vigilance becomes hostility, and it seems to me they need to concentrate on narcotics rather than people bringing in suits from Seoul.

Mr. LOGAN. I have made notes of that.
Mr. RANGEL. Captain Lucas.

TESTIMONY OF CAPT. TERRY L. LUCAS, CHIEF OF STAFF,
ELEVENTH DISTRICT, COAST GUARD

Captain LUCAS. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am Capt. Terry Lucas, Chief of Staff of the 11th Coast Guard District, and I am here today representing Rear Adm. A. Bruce Beran, the Commander of the 11th Coast Guard District. I am pleased to appear here.

The use of illegal drugs does represent a threat to our society. The Coast Guard has the responsibility to counter the flow of illegal drugs into the United States from the maritime region. All 11th Coast Guard District units are used in our law enforcement efforts. The drug-smuggling threat in southern California is much different from that found in the other areas of the United States, and I echo Mr. Logan's remarks on the difference.

The geographic distribution of islands does not exist on the west coast. Unlike the Caribbean, we have no natural choke points that the potential smuggler must pass through. That does not enable us to control the Coast Guard units as efficiently as we can in the Caribbean. That is important to us. We are confronted with illegal substances coming from both Central and South America, to South and Southeast Asia to the west.

Contraband encountered has included marijuana from Thailand, marijuana and cocaine from Colombia, and marijuana and heroin from Mexico. The smuggling tactics involve bringing fast, small boats onto secluded beaches, using pleasure craft to blend into the enormous recreational boating fleet, secreting contraband on board large merchant ships, and hiding it within shipping containers.

We have found that west coast smuggling rings are extremely well organized, tightly controlled, and well equipped. There have been cases in which smugglers have moved their operations to the west coast due to their perception that less competition exists and the area is wide open. We are doing our best to ensure that any such movement is unsuccessful.

We are hampered, however, by a lack of intelligence on which we can base our efforts. We are unable to accurately determine the extent of the problem. Street supplies of illicit drugs remain at high levels, as levels of purity increase and prices decrease. Although 11th Coast Guard District units boarded over 1,000 vessels during the past year, actual drugs seized have been sparse. Fruitful interdiction results mainly when our efforts have been coordinated with investigations conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Customs, and State and local law enforcement agencies.

Recent cases in which we have acted with these other agencies have resulted in seizures of cocaine and marijuana. Contraband was hidden inside fuel or oil tank, and would probably not have been detected without specific intelligence. By expanding this type of cooperation among all the agencies involved, we will have a pronounced impact on the smuggling trade.

Toward this end, Coast Guard special agents are assigned to work closely with representatives of other agencies. Coast Guard representatives are on Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, and we also participate in a task force involving local and county authorities in the Los Angeles area. Two vessels and approximately 10 tons of marijuana were seized in May 1985 as a result of an investigation conducted by this latter task force.

Progress is also being made in other areas. Steps have been taken toward the development of a better working relationship with the Mexican authorities. Coast Guard cutters have made calls in Mexican ports with the specific object of creating personal contacts with our counterparts in the Mexican Navy. Rear Admiral Beran will be meeting with commanders of west coast Mexican naval zones during the next month.

In addition, extended operations such as Hat Trick I and II have also projected the Coast Guard presence to the shores of countries which have been the traditional sources of illicit narcotics. U.S. Navy assets, both surface vessels and aircraft, are playing an increasingly larger role, and the law enforcement role of the Coast Guard Reserve has expanded significantly.

Briefly, what I have given you is a 4-minute 30 second summary of my remarks. We are strongly committed to the prevention of smuggling of illegal drugs. I hope that our efforts will play a significant role in stopping the threat to our country. I realize they presently are not. This concludes my statement, Mr. Chairman. I will be happy to answer any questions which you or the Members of your Committee may have.

Mr. RANGEL. Thank you so much, Captain.

[The statement of Captain Lucas appears on p. 236.]

TESTIMONY OF JOHN F. SHAW, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER FOR INVESTIGATIONS, IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERV

ICE

Mr. SHAW. Mr. Chairman, I well recognize that the stated purpose of these hearings is to focus on the particular problems of narcotics control in the Los Angeles area. Consequently, I have brought with me for follow-up questions people with special local

expertise, namely Ernest Gustafson, the district director of the Los Angeles District, and Alan E. Eliason, chief patrol agent of San Diego, who is also a key management participant in Operation Alli

ance.

I head the investigations program in Washington and bring with me, therefore, a Washington orientation for devising some of the policies that have to be interpreted and implemented in the field. I therefore asked Mr. Eliason and Mr. Gustafson to perhaps comment more specifically on how those policies and most recent program emphases affect narcotics from their perspective in the local

area.

Narcotics control is not the primary mission of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, we realize controlling aliens is. The large percentages of narcotics violators who are aliens move the INS into the narcotics enforcement arena in support of the primary narcotics enforcement and intelligence agencies, such as the DEA.

We defer to DEA's expertise in responding to questions posed by this committee relative to what drugs are most frequently trafficked in the Los Angeles area, where they come from, and how they are distributed. What we can comment on is our investigations of organized alien crime groups and smuggling organizations, many of which deal in narcotics.

During 1985, in 2,400 incidents, INS officers nation-wide effected the seizure of controlled substances with an estimated worth in excess of $129 million. During the first 11 months of fiscal year 1986, in 3,000 separate incidents, INS officers nation-wide seized narcotics with a total estimated value of $170.4 million, more drugs than ever before in INS's history. Notable seizures include Los Angeles inspection's interception of 13 pounds of "China white" heroin worth an estimated $20 million; the Border Patrol's seizure recently of 217 kilograms, 478 pounds, of cocaine valued at $15 million at the San Clemente checkpoint; and the Border Patrol's seizure of 1,185 pounds of cocaine worth $56.6 million near Campo, CA, recently.

Recently completed investigations by our antismuggling officers also indicate a trend whereby some aliens have been detected and apprehended carrying small amounts of cocaine into the United States to help defray fees demanded by smugglers for effecting their passage.

During 1985, over 13,000 criminal aliens wanted for violations of Federal and state laws, including narcotics violations, were apprehended by INS investigations and placed under deportation proceedings. Through the end of the third quarter of this fiscal year, fiscal year 1986, agents completed 8,800 investigations of criminal aliens, including those who had violated controlled substance provisions of the law, through the arrest and initiation of removal proceedings.

Investigations with the national strength of only 690 agents targets aliens in the interior of the United States and respond both proactively and reactively to criminal aliens, many of whom are involved in the trafficking of narcotics. We actively investigate criminal alien organizations, including drug syndicates of foreign origin. We join in multiagency task force operations targeting narcotics

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