157. Memorandum From the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Ash) to Secretary of State Kissinger1 2
SUBJECT:
- MANAGEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL PROGRAM
As you know the drug program continues to be a top Presidential priority. The progress in curbing heroin abuse over the last two years has been extraordinary. A large measure of the success can be credited to the State Department and its leading role in the international narcotics control program. Stepped-up enforcement efforts in Turkey, the Far East, Latin America, and Mexico have contributed significantly to the decrease in heroin availability on the East Coast in particular.
Last March we significantly reorganized drug program management responsibilities within the Executive Office of the President. Management of the international narcotics control program, which had previously been lodged in the Domestic Council, was turned over to the State Department (Tab A). Your Senior Adviser for International Narcotics Control Matters also became Executive Director of the Cabinet Committee on International Narcotics Control. Our goal was to institutionalize the successes of 1971 and 1972 by creation of a viable interagency program managed from the State Department.
One year later that goal remains unchanged. The instability of the Turkish opium situation, the growing shortage of medicinal opiates worldwide, and the threat of new sources of heroin entering the United States—particularly Mexico—is solid indication that the heroin problem is not fully contained, and in fact the market is perhaps more fragmented and dynamic than ever. Thus the need for institutionalizing a management mechanism which can meet new threats over the years is vitally important.
I am somewhat disturbed in reviewing Fiscal Year 1974–1975 State Department programs to see (1) that headquarters drug staffing is at a very low level [four professional spaces in both FY’ 74 and FY ′75], (2) that expenditure rates of the international narcotics control assistance fund remain substantially below program potential, and (3) that the interagency management mechanisms seem to be largely unused.
I would appreciate your reviewing the management of the international narcotics control program and ensuring that we are on the road to institutionalizing this continuing high priority program.
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 359, Subject Files, Narcotics Vol. VI, January 1974 (1 of 1). No classification marking. Tab A has not been found.↩
- Ash asked Kissinger to review the managerial and financial resources devoted to international drug control efforts.↩