August 7, 1998
By Michelle Koidin
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
The country's drug policy chief wants to expand the ``border czar'' role recently vacated by federal prosecutor Alan Bersin under a plan to fight drug smuggling across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, outlined a six-point program before the World Affairs Council of San Diego. He offered no specific plan for an anti-drug coordinator for the border, but he said one was necessary.
``We've got to find a coordinating authority,'' he said.
McCaffrey doesn't think that person should be the one who replaces Bersin, who resigned last month to head San Diego city schools. U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer has recommended Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Vega for the post.
Bersin took a lot of heat for simultaneously serving as U.S. attorney for San Diego and Imperial counties and Attorney General Janet Reno's Southwest border czar.
Critics said his job as the region's top law enforcement officer on drugs and immigration conflicted with his position as border czar - the person in charge of fostering greater cooperation with the Mexican government in those two areas.
McCaffrey said Bersin had no staff to support him in his efforts as border czar, and that he concentrated on just Southern California. What is needed is a federal official, appointed by President Clinton, who would oversee the entire 2,000-mile Mexican border, McCaffrey said.
The border czar would help improve communication between the seven federal departments and 22 agencies - including the Border Patrol and the Drug Enforcement Administration - that have overlapping duties at the border.
Among McCaffrey's other objectives to stop the flow of drugs across the border:
-Make sure federal agencies are ready to quickly provide resources to areas invaded by drug traffickers.
-Encourage federal agencies along the border to work together. ``We need some report cards,'' McCaffrey said. ``We need to find out who's doing their job and who's not.''
-Develop better high-tech equipment to inspect incoming shipments.
-Control the whole the border so that traffickers don't simply shift to an area that is less enforced.
-Coordinate efforts with the Mexican government. ``This is organizing and getting beyond turf issues,'' McCaffrey said.
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