NCJ Number
138053
Date Published
1992
Length
28 pages
Annotation
The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) reviewed Department of Defense (DOD) spending for counternarcotics activities for fiscal years 1989 through 1991, focusing on the DOD counternarcotics funding process, the impact of delays in providing obligation authority on the ability of DOD offices to execute their counternarcotics programs, and the process used to review counternarcotics proposals before submission to Congress.
Abstract
During this period, Congress appropriated nearly $2 billion for DOD's counternarcotics programs. Despite delays from the time the funds were appropriated until the defense organizations responsible for executing approved programs received obligation authority, DOD was able to obligate most of the 1-year funds before their expiration date. Program officials financed their missions with funds already in operating accounts until the appropriated counternarcotics moneys were made available. Since assuming these counternarcotics missions, DOD has primarily focused on the detection and monitoring of cocaine shipments destined for the United States. Although DOD's counternarcotics program requirements for fiscal years 1989 through 1991 were based on the subjective analyses of regional commanders, in May 1991, DOD's program planners implemented a national assessment of the overall cocaine trafficking threat in order to have objective data on which to base their program planning. 3 tables, 1 figure, and 1 appendix