A New Mission Impossible: Seal the Border in 45 Days

By Ed Magnuson

As illegal drugs pour across America's borders, frustrated lawmakers ask an understandable question: Why not unleash the world's mightiest military machine to tackle the task of protecting the nation from this invasion? Thus the House earlier this month passed a wondrously simple antidrug amendment that directs the President and Secretary of Defense to "substantially halt" drug smuggling by air and sea within 45 days. The Air Force and Navy would "locate, pursue and seize" all vessels carrying drugs and "arrest their crews." The military would also provide blanket radar coverage of the entire southern border to detect nighttime flights of contraband. Presto. Pass a bill. Problem solved.

Deliberating under the less hallucinatory guidance of Georgia's Sam Nunn, the Senate approved a more realistic role for the military. The Defense Department would be designated the lead agency for air and sea surveillance of drug carriers and would be required to provide an "appropriate increase" in flying hours for its radar aircraft. Under certain conditions outside U.S. territorial waters, the Navy could arrest smugglers.

Both provisions are amendments to defense authorization bills. The more workable and sensible Senate version is likely to prevail. Nevertheless, it gives to the military a far greater role than it wanted in drug interdiction. The Pentagon, eager to avoid the nasty work altogether, yielded to pressure . from the White House to accept it. One objection: law enforcement is traditionally a civilian function in a democracy. The military also contends that the costs would be high, the peripheral training from the new duties would not be relevant to preparing for war, and the Air Force does not have the right aircraft for the task. Still, Pentagon Spokesman Dan Howard concedes: "We're prepared to do more. But that requires resources." Even before knowing just what they will be required to do, some Pentagon officials are floating a scary price tag: $2 billion a year.

The military interception capabilities are more effective at sea than in the air. One reason: a smuggling vessel can be tracked for a day or more, providing ample time for the Navy to reach, stop and inspect it. But some border-hopping Cessnas can fly to their unloading airstrips and slip out of the U.S. again in half an hour. Even if Air Force radar planes such as the AWACS or E-2C surveillance craft spot the intruders, there is not much time to alert lawmen on the ground, get them to the strip and make arrests before the drug traffickers flee. The cost of keeping an AWACS in the air, moreover, is about $7,500 an hour.

For interception, the only Air Force jets with the right type of radar to detect low-flying planes are supersonic; but if they slow to the 150 m.p.h. of the suspect prop planes, they will be near stalling speed. Even then they could do little but frighten the smugglers. The possibility of downing innocents almost certainly would preclude any shoot-to-kill orders to Air Force pilots.

In fact, the U.S. Customs Service and Coast Guard have more effective aircraft for this job (Black Hawk helicopters and Cessna and Falcon jets) but they need more of them for better coverage. One other practical tactic: the use of tethered balloons with look-down radar (called aerostats). Seven, already authorized by Congress but not yet operational, could cover the border and part of the Bahamas.

Operating on a more limited scale under a 1986 antidrug law, the Navy and Air Force flew 16,300 hours in surveillance flights last year. The Navy devoted 2,500 ship-days of patrolling with Coast Guard officers aboard to make drug arrests. Military interception gear and intelligence were shared with civilian agencies. The cost: $67 million.

The beleaguered Customs Service welcomes the prospect of more military help. "It's great; we need 'em," says Deputy Customs Commissioner Michael Lane. "They can help significantly." But he has a terse word for any 45-day deadline in closing the border to drugs: "Lunacy."

With reporting by Jay Peterzell/Washington