Pubdate: Thu, 04 Jul 2002
Source: Tacoma News Tribune (WA)
Copyright: 2002 Tacoma News Inc.
Contact:  http://www.tribnet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/442
Author: James Risen, of The New York Times
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?172 (Peruvian Aircraft Shooting)

SOUTH AMERICAN DRUG INTERDICTION FLIGHTS MAY RESUME

WASHINGTON - President Bush is expected to approve the resumption of a 
program to force or shoot down airplanes suspected of ferrying drugs in 
Latin America, a year after the program was halted by the mistaken downing 
of a plane carrying American missionaries in Peru, U.S. officials say.

Once the president gives his final approval, the State Department would 
take over the program from the Central Intelligence Agency, and U.S. 
officials said air interdiction operations could begin in Colombia as early 
as this fall and would probably be expanded to Peru later. The Pentagon 
would support the program as well, providing intelligence about suspected 
drug flights gathered from ground-based radar and other sources, officials 
said.

The program calls for the United States to identify and locate suspected 
drug planes, and for Colombian and Peruvian air force planes to shoot them 
down if they do not respond to calls to land. U.S. officials said the 
governments of both Colombia and Peru had expressed support for restarting 
the operation.

The program's critics had assumed the mistaken killings of two Americans 
would make it impossible for the White House to start it up again. But the 
plans for resumption began months ago, and in recent weeks, Colombia's 
incoming president, Alvaro Uribe Velez, visited Washington to urge an 
aggressive U.S. role in the Latin American drug war.

The decision to shift the management of the program to the State Department 
came after CIA Director George Tenet made it clear that his agency no 
longer wanted any part of the operation, officials said. Since the plane's 
downing, Congress has placed restrictions on the CIA's involvement, 
officials said.

The CIA said last year that a contractor, Alabama-based Aviation 
Development Corp., ran the program on its behalf. But Aviation Development 
was actually a CIA front company, and public scrutiny of the program after 
the downing of the missionary plane prompted the CIA to dissolve it, 
officials familiar with the program said. Alabama state records show that 
Aviation Development was dissolved in January.

Secretary of State Colin Powell has expressed strong support for resuming 
the air interdiction operations through the State Department, and has 
repeatedly inquired about the progress of the program, officials said.

Although Bush has not given a final green light, the administration is far 
advanced in preparing to resume the program, officials said. The Cessna 
Citation surveillance jets the CIA previously operated in the program have 
been upgraded and transferred to the State Department, officials said.

Colombian Air Force pilots have just completed basic training in the United 
States on how to fly the Citation jets, and are scheduled to begin more 
advanced training in how to perform the complex interdiction missions as 
early as August.

In April, the State Department awarded a contract to a Maryland-based 
aviation company, ARINC Corp., to help train Colombian and Peruvian pilots 
and manage the air operation, officials said.

ARINC has tried to hire back many workers involved with the program when 
the CIA ran it. But some have refused, in part because they do not believe 
that the State Department is allotting enough time for training, according 
to people familiar with the program. Other officials stressed that the 
State Department plans to impose rigorous training standards on the air crews.

One big change under the new plan is that the Citation jets, previously 
flown by CIA contractors, would be flown by Colombian and Peruvian pilots, 
officials said. ARINC will have one bilingual observer on each plane, 
offering recommendations. But the final decision on whether to direct 
fighter planes to fire on suspect aircraft would be with the Peruvian and 
Colombian pilots.
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