Invoking a power never used before against the Pentagon, President Clinton's drug policy chief ordered $141 million in extra defense spending for anti-drug programs in the next budget year.
In a letter Thursday to Defense Secretary William Cohen, Barry Mc-Caf-frey said he could not certify that the Pentagon's proposed $809 million drug-fighting budget for fiscal 1999 was adequate to implement the president's drug-control policy."To correct the deficiencies," the Defense Department must include an additional $141 million in drug control programs to strengthen U.S.-sponsored operations in Mexico, the Andes, the Caribbean and along the U.S. southern border, McCaffrey wrote.
Cohen immediately called the amount excessive, saying the Pentagon is "being asked to do more with less every day." He also complained that McCaffrey had not gone through the White House budget review process to prioritize the added spending.
"The lack of any accompanying analytic work justifying the request made our review more difficult," Cohen said in a response letter to McCaffrey. He said the drug policy chief would vest the Pentagon with unwanted law enforcement functions.
Cohen did not dispute that McCaffrey has the legal authority to require additional spending.
Although the Defense Department has not yet submitted its request for fiscal 1999 spending to the Office of Management and Budget, McCaffrey said the Pentagon was planning to ask for $809 million for counterdrug operations. That is virtually identical to the amount budgeted for 1998.