LETTER TO HONORABLE LESTER L WOLFF FROM GEORGE BUSH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79M00467A000400040005-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 2, 2005
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: October 26, 1976
• Content Type: LETTER

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DRAFT,
Honorable Lester L. Wolff
Chairman, Select Committee on
Narcotics Abuse and Control
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
ms/26Oct76
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I have received your letter of October 15th, as
well as the one from Mr. Flott, the Select:Committee's
Counselor for International Affairs of the same date,
and I am pleased to have this opportunity to provide
you and your colleagues with additional details of the
Agency's role in support of our government's efforts
to stem the flow of illicit narcotics from abroad.. I.
trust you will understand that my answers to the
questions in both letters must be treated as classified
information, and I am therefore making a single.response
and sending it to you via Mr. Flott in accord with. your
suggestion. I wish my response could be unclassified
because I take considerable pride in the Agency's role
with regard to obtaining necessary narcotics-related
foreign intelligence and wish the public could be made
.fully aware of the Agency's overall contribution. You
are well aware, however, that the Agency is obligated
both by law and prudence to protect its sources and
methods, a dual obligation that must be fully respected
if it is to continue to provide the informational support
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expected by the Congress and the Administration.
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Let me first address myself to the questions as
they were posed in your letter.
A. From the hearings:
1. The Agency is providing (and has provided)
considerable foreign intelligence and related support to
the DEA, Bureau of Customs and other agencies to improve
their collection, processing, storage and recovery
practices. There is a regular flow of information re-
ports to all these agencies which is supplemented by
almost daily discussions between Agency and counterpart
officers in these other agencies. These exchanges take
place both in the Washington area and in our Missions
overseas. I believe the transmittal of skills, as your
.letter suggested, is being carried out by these exchanges..
There are practical limitations, however,
as to how far such a transmittal can be carried out in
view of the fact that the DEA and Bureau of Customs
are domestic enforcement agencies. I do not believe it
proper, for example, that officers of this Agency
directly. train DEA or Customs officers in the techniques
of foreign intelligence operations and related skills.
This would be a clear impropriety. I have been advised,
furthermore, that the Department of Justice concurs
.with this opinion, having indicated to my staff that any
Agency involvement in training of DEA officers should
be limited to discussions or briefings of its role in
the government's international narcotics control programs
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for their better understanding of what we do, what we
can and can not do to support them.
2. With regard to the second question as
to whether the Agency might supply more foreign nar-
cotics-related intelligence to policy makers, I believe
the answer is yes, but with conditions. These conditions
are the practical realities of available resources
(human and material) which must be allocated to meet
all the information requirements levied on the Agency.
International narcotics is a priority target for the
Agency, and I believe we are making a very substantial
contribution to our government's overall requirements.
At the same time, however, we are facing budgetary
limitations and manpower ceilings, both of which have
become increasingly stringent. The Agency must, there-
fore, work out a judicious balance of resource allocations
to ensure it covers to the extent possible all the infor-
mation priorities established by the government. You
should be aware that in 1969 when the Agency first
became formally involved in the government's international
narcotics control efforts, the BNDD (DEA's predecessor)
had approximately)
persons assigned abroad. Today
.the DEA has an overseas staffing authorization of some
I believe you will agree that the Agency's
allocation of resources must take this expansion of DEA's
foreign operational capability into account on practical
grounds.
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The second part of your question asked
if the Agency might be able to detail some persons to
other agencies. Again, I must point out that it would
bean impropriety, at the least, for CIA personnel to
be assigned for full-time duty at a domestic enforcement
agency such as the DEA or Bureau of Customs. In ad-
dition, in view of our manpower limitations, I am not
persuaded it would be the most effective use of CIA
personnel to employ them in such a manner.
B. Questions apart from the hearings:
This Agency also reported information
some time ago of another incident concerning the flight
of a Thai helicopter into Burma. The only specific
information known to this Agency related to an incident
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in , and there were no details \A sV,k
that illicit narcotics had actually been moved by this
helicopter. The Embassy in Bangkok made strong repre-
sentations to the Thai Government at the time the in-
formation was reported, the demarche having been pre-
sented by the Ambassador himself to the Foreign Minister
and Prime Minister. The Ambassador was assured that
the Thai Government would take forceful action to stop
such unauthorized activity.
3. I believe the new Thai Government is
committed to suppressing the production and trafficking
of illicit narcotics. The new Prime Minister, in his
second public speech, made a strong policy statement
committing his government to the suppression of illicit
narcotics trafficking and other forms of corruption.
This Agency has no specific information identifying
Thai military officers linked with illegal drug traffic.
As to whether the United States has more leverage with,
the new Thai Government, it is too early to make any
assessment. From what we have seen or heard in terms
of the new government's composition, I believe it would
be safe to say the new Thai Government will cooperate
with the United States with regard.to the suppression
of illicit international narcotics trafficking.
4. The Agency has a program to solicit the
opinions of other agencies who receive foreign intel-
ligence from it. This is a continual activity, carried
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on both in Washington and abroad to ensure that our
collection and reporting will not be duplicative and
will meet the needs of the other agencies involved.
D. Questions contained in Mr. Flott's letter:
Afghanistan:
More than one-half of the world's
illicit opium is estimated to originate in.the "Golden
Triangle" of Southeast Asia.I
Similarly,
Mexico has been the source of almost all the heroin abused
in the United States in recent years whereas almost all
of the cocaine abused domestically originates in South
America.
FThe
main reason for this is that Pakistan and Afghanistan
have not yet been identified as sources of opiates for
domestic. abuse;
We are continually alert, however, for
possible changes in this situation and regularly con-
sult with our colleagues in DEA and other agencies to'
ascertain whether we should increase our efforts in con-
cert with theirs. If the eradication campaign in Mexico
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proves successful, it is not certain that Afghanistan.
(or Pakistan) would take its place as the source for
American abusers. The information available to date
indicates that most Afghan and Pakistani opiates are con-
sumed locally, in India, in Iran (which has a huge addict
population) or in Europe. The various factors af-
fecting control programs in Afghanistan and Pakistan
are of great concern to this Agency (and to all agencies
concerned with international narcotics control) and
strenuous efforts are currently underway by our govern-
ment to help these two countries make necessary improve-
ments despite the very real limitations of their respective
authority in the remote areas of production.
Turkey: The case of the Turkish ship which
was apprehended by Egyptian authorities with a cargo
of illicit opium is still under investigation. The
primary United States responsibility for action is
being undertaken by DEA and our Embassy in Ankara. I
believe the ship's captain is still under arrest and
being interrogated. A sample of the seized opium has-
been provided to DEA for chemical analysis to ascertain. 25X1
its origin.
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Mr. Chairman, I have not attempted to discuss in
the fullest possible-detail the very pertinent and
useful questions that you and Mr. Flott have submitted
in your letters to me. To do so would entail a
tremendous amount of discussion which would necessarily
include considerable speculation on my part in view of
the many complexities and unknowns that are involved.
I sould suggest, therefore, that once you and the other
Select Committee members have had the opportunity to
review this letter, we arrange for another executive
session in which my staff and I will be glad to respond
to questions in the fullest detail possible.
I wish to reiterate the appreciation that Agency
officers and I 'share to have this opportunity to
acquaint-the Select Committee with what the Agency is
doing to support our Government's efforts to eliminate
this terrible social evil afflicting our people.
Sincerely,
George Bush
Director
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