AGENCY LETTERS (STATE TREASURY CIA AND DOD) ON S. 1787 THE DRUG CZAR BILL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90B01370R000200310008-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 8, 2008
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: October 13, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

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EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
WASFjINGTON, D.C. 20503
August 13, 1984
LEGISLATIVE REFERRAL MEMORANDUM
T0: Legislative Liaison Officer
Department of Justice
Department of Defense
Central Intelligence Agency
record
on~b
LEGISLATIVE LIAISON
~~ -. Zg ~~
Department of Transportation
Department of the Treasury
National Security Council
Department of State
SUBJECT: Agency letters (State, -... Treasury, CIA, and DOD) on
S. 1787,-the "drug czar" bill
The Office of Management and Budget requests the views of your
agency on the above subject before advising on its relationship
to the program of the President, in accordance with OMB Circular
A-19.
.FYI: NO RESPONSE NEEDED AT THIS TIME.
Direct your questions to Gregory Jones (395~3>~56
Jam ~~,~~
Assistant Director for
Legislative Reference
cc:
A.
F.
R.
P.
Curtis
Kalder
Neely
Hughes
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v
United States Department of Staten _
lash i ngton, D. C. 20520
A U G g 1984
The Department of State has been asked to comment on
a Department of Justice letter to you, dated July 2, con-
cerning S. 1787, the so-called "drug czar" bill.
The Department of State has consistently opposed such
legislation, including H.R. 3963 which the President vetoed
in 1983 on the recommendation of several Departments
including State. We recently conveyed to you a response
to Senator Thurmond in which the Department opposed H.R.
4028, another proposal to create a drug czar.
The Department was not consulted on the negotiations
which led to S. 1787 prior to its passage February 7, nor
did we obtain a draft of the Administration's language
from Justice until after the bill had been passed. However,
our views on predecessor drafts were made well known at
meetings of the Cabinet in October, 1983, at which we said
that the establishment of a drug czar is unnecessary and
duplicative of the current Federal narcotics coordinating
process.
The subject bill, while providing for a Board whose
members would include the Secretary and the Director of
Central Intelligence, would confer certain powers upon the
Attorney General, separate from the Board's powers, and
these authorities would have the effect of making the
Attorney General the drug czar.
International narcotics control is an important foreign
policy issue and, as clearly provided for in law, is an
area for the Department to establish foreign policy direc-
tives. Given the vital importance of coordinated management
of overall US bilateral relations with a dozen or more
narcotics source countries, it would be inappropriate for
another Cabinet officer to be establishing policy on
narcotics-related foreign policy issues.
The Honorable
David A. Stockman,
Director,
Office of Danagement
and Budget.
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Moreover, as we said last October, we believe that,
if negotiations commence again with the Congress, the
Department of State and others should also be actively
involved in developing the Administration's position;
that the negotiating position developed in behalf of the
Administration should not be limited to or even begin
with the position Justice negotiated with the Senate but
should contain the widest base of possible options for
the President, including enhancement of the current
Cabinet Council. coordinating mechanism; and, the negotia-
tions should involve the several key members of Senate
and House who have influence on such legislation.
Sincerely,
W. Tapley Bennett, Jr.
Assistant Secretary
Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs
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Central Intelligence Agency
20 July 1984
The Honorable David A. Stockman
Director, Office of Management and Budget
Washington, D.C. 20503
This letter responds to OMB's request for comments on Assistant
Attorney General McConnell's 2 July letter to you regarding CIA's
concerns with Senator Biden's narcotics bill.
Despite the differences between CIA and the Department of Justice
regarding the impact of Senator Biden's bill on the Intelligence Community,
I do agree with the Department of Justice that it would be inappropriate
to seek to amend Senator Biden's narcotics bill at this time since the
bill does not appear to be moving. In fact, I did not suggest in my
letter of 17 May that our proposed amendment be raised with Congress
before it appeared likely that the House of Representatives would act
on this legislation. Rather, it was my purpose to state for the record
the serious intelligence concerns with this legislation.
We again must note that the Senate Bill S. 1787 would seriously
and adversely affect (1) the DCA's responsibilities to coordinate
intelligence collection and protect intelligence sources and methods,
(2) his responsibilities in connection with the Intelligence Community
budget, and (3) his equities regarding the assignment of Intelligence
Community personnel.
As a member of the Cabinet Council on Legal Policy, we learned of
Justice's alternative to S. 1787 but were never given the opportunity to
review the specific proposal and didn't learn of the details of the
legislation until it passed the Senate. Requests by our General Counsel
to obtain access to the proposal from Justice were denied.
I would hope that the time afforded by the congressional delay
in acting on this legislation will enable us to reach an accommodation
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that will alleviate our concerns. I have instructed my staff to work
with Department of Justice in reaching an Administration position that
will accommodate intelligence concerns.
Sincerely,
John N. McMahon
epu y it ctor of Central Intelligence
cc Assistant Attorney General,
Office of Legislative and
Intergovernmental Affairs
STAT
STAT
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2 0 JUL 1984
Honorable David A. Stockman
Director, Office of Management
and Budget
Washington, D. C. 20503
This is in response to your request for the views of the
Department of Defense on Central Intelligence Agency report dated
17 May 1984, regarding S. 1787, 98th Congress, a bill, "To
establish an office of the Director of National and International
Drug Operations and Policy."
While the Department of Defense favors efforts to improve
the Government's ability to deal with the narcotics problem, and
is dedicating increased efforts to that end, the Department of
Defense is also concerned that certain aspects of S. 1787 could
impact adversely on the Department's primary defense
responsibilities.
The Department of Defense is concerned that subsections of
the bill could provide the proposed National Drug Enforcement
Policy Board with powers that might interfere with correct
expenditure of defense resources as authorized and appropriated
by Congress. Further, subsections of the bill might interfere
with responsibilities vested in the Department of Defense for the
assigned missions of the United States operating forces. On
those subsections of the bill addressing the collection of
foreign intelligence, the Department of Defense fully agrees with
the Central Intelligence Agency report and believes the views
expressed therein would equally apply to subsections of S. 1787
impacting on Department of Defense responsibilities. Also, we
concur in the proposed revision of paragraph 4(d) of the bill,
with addition of the following clause at the end of the revised
language: , or provided the Secretary of Defense by statute or
Executive Order."
Sincerely,
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