Is the Drug Campaign Winnable with Department of Defense Support?
Abstract
The illegal use of drugs has been prevalent throughout history. However, today's world is one of rapidly changing political, social and economic environments. The industry of illicit drug production and trafficking grosses billions of dollars annually, often using the ill gotten wealth to undermine legitimate governments; thus destabilizing whole regions. This destabilizing of the regions is a major threat to U.S. National Security. Because of this National Security threat, President Bush in September, 1989, introduced the United States first National Drug Control Strategy and within the strategy charged the Department of Defense to be the lead agency in countering the production and trafficking of drugs. With large force reduction and the Department of Defense searching for missions to justify larger end strength, there has been a desire to increase the military's role in the drug campaign. Is the Department of Defense organized to effectively contribute to a successful drug campaign and what are the pitfalls of Department of Defense involvement? Is the Department of Defense wasting it's time for a non-winnable cause? Major organizational restructuring will be required within the Department of Defense if there is to be a chance of successfully winning the drug campaign. If the Department of Defense does reorganize to fight the drug campaign, will the federal agencies reorganize also? The interagency conflicts, parochialism and lack of a clear center of gravity inhibit the chances for a successful drug campaign. This paper serves as an information paper for evaluation of the problems just mentioned and the conclusions reached are the author's opinion only. It in clear that the drug campaign is not being won by the United States.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 06, 1992
- Accession Number
- ADA251197
Entities
People
- Robert R. Grider
Organizations
- United States Army War College