The task force conducts counter-drug reconnaissance missions on the Mexican border and provides military training and technical services for local, state and federal civilian agencies. It has provided training and other help for 430 civilian agencies, in such areas as intelligence analysis, language, canine training and marksmanship.
The task force has been asked to review its programs in light of Wolfowitz's memo. Hollis said reports that the task force "is going to go away ... are just rumors," but he added that although "people are generally anxious about change, 9/11 changed everything for us. We need to look at the collective good."
The military's counter-narcotics efforts have not exactly "won" the drug war, some experts note. The price and supply of cocaine, for example, have been relatively stable since 1989.
"They're certainly working at the margins in making a difference," said Peter Reuter, a University of Maryland economist and former director of Rand Corp.'s Drug Policy Research Center.
Liberal critics have argued that by training foreign police and soldiers, the U.S. military has in some cases given new tools to brutal regimes that often abuse human rights.
Yet the Pentagon's work has led to important drug seizures and arrests, and has helped build U.S. ties and open doors for American military access in many countries. Advocates maintain that it has also helped spread U.S. values overseas, by teaching foreign militaries the idea of civilian control.
The former defense official said that easing the counter-drug duties of the Special Forces "sort of makes sense." But he said the benefit would be small, because only 200 to 250 Special Forces personnel are used in Latin American counter-drug operations at any one time.
The ex-official said 7th Special Forces Group soldiers used in Latin America are regional specialists who are well-suited to the assignment and would have limited value if transferred to the Middle East or South Asia.
Changes in 2004 Budget
The key unanswered question about the shift in plans, the ex-official added, is how much the administration intends to trim from Pentagon anti-drug spending in the upcoming fiscal 2004 budget, and whether officials plan to shift to other areas the intelligence-gathering ships and planes that have been the backbone of the mission.
Pentagon counter-drug officials have had to struggle to hang on to intelligence-gathering planes, such as Navy P-3s and AWACS surveillance aircraft, which the Joint Chiefs have frequently diverted to missions considered priorities.
Officials of Southern Command, which oversees the Latin American mission, acknowledge that they are able to monitor only 15% of the drug trafficking corridors about 15% of the time.
Top defense officials are expected to work out the details of the shift in counter-drug priorities in the next few weeks.
