Drug Control: Oversight Needed to Prevent Acquisition of Unnecessary Equipment

Abstract

The Chairman of the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to review the procurement and modification of aircraft and other equipment used for drug detection and monitoring. The specific objectives were to determine whether equipment acquisitions are supported by valid requirements and are coordinated through the agencies responsible for interdicting drug traffic en route to the United States -- the Department of Defense (DoD), the U.S. Customs Service, and the U.S. Coast Guard. Each of the three interdiction agencies identifies its own requirements and establishes its own acquisition plans for drug detection and monitoring equipment. There is no organization that routinely oversees and coordinates acquisitions to ensure that they do the following: (1) respond to valid requirements, and (2) do not unnecessarily duplicate existing or planned equipment in the federal inventory. The National Guard's UC-26C aircraft program and the Coast Guard's EC-130V aircraft program illustrate the need for a clearinghouse organization. These agencies used counterdrug funds to acquire modified aircraft, but neither the National Guard nor the Coast Guard has a validated counterdrug requirement for the aircraft. Interagency coordination has been a major focus of interdiction efforts, but the emphasis to date has been on coordinating operations, not acquisitions. The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has processes to oversee budget requests and coordinate operations of the interdiction agencies. However, a similar process has not been established to routinely oversee and coordinate acquisition of detection and monitoring equipment.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1992
Accession Number
ADA255827

Entities

People

  • Edward W. States
  • Gary K. Weeter
  • James B. Marshall
  • Julie C. Washington
  • Robert J. Stolba

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Aircrafts
  • Coast Guard
  • Contracts
  • Department Of Defense
  • Detection
  • Drug Trafficking
  • Governments
  • Interagency Coordination
  • Law
  • Law Enforcement
  • National Guard
  • National Security
  • Procurement
  • Surveillance
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse Science in Autism Spectrum Disorders.
  • Defense Financial Management and Audit.
  • Defense Technology Research and Development.