ly, we would contract with an individual-not formally. But, you know, we pay for something but just because someone walks in off the street and gives us a piece of information, we don't hand him a check. We would sit down with him and say, Well, what can you offer us? If it reaches a certain level of importance, then we pay him for it. It is like everything else, it is negotiable. Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Parris, do you have any questions? Mr. PARRIS. Just one very brief one, Mr. Chairman, and I thank you. Ten years ago, I served on the Immigration and Naturalization Subcommittee in reference to the problem with the Mexican border. Short of stationing three Army divisions there or building the equivalent of the Great Wall of China, or the Berlin Wall, or whatever, would you agree, Mr. von Raab, that as a practical matter, it is virtually an impossibility to close the southwest border of the United States to any illegal substance? Mr. VON RAAB. Actually to close it off? Mr. PARRIS. Yes. Mr. VON RAAB. Physically you can't do it. It is too long. Mr. PARRIS. It is impossible to do it, isn't it? Mr. VON RAAB. Yes. Mr. PARRIS. So we have to find some other legitimate way. Mr. VON RAAB. That is why intelligence is so valuable to Customs, because that is why we rely very heavily on that. Mr. PARRIS. Even with the advances that have been made: on ultraviolet, and all of that sort of thing, it is not purely a function of 200 more agents, or 2,000, or whatever? Mr. VON RAAB. No, it is not. Mr. PARRIS. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The RANGEL. In this area, has satellite information been made available to Customs as to locating where the crops are? Mr. VON RAAB. We get information from DEA, but where the crops are is only important to us in a very indirect sense in that it may give us some idea of where it would be smuggled from. But in terms of eradication, that is the Drug Enforcement Administration's responsibility, not Customs. The RANGEL. I know but I would just like to believe that you fellows do from time to time share with each other. Mr. VON RAAB. Oh, no; I am saying we do get that information. But I am saying we are not on a formal list for that sort of thing. The RANGEL. My question is in connection with what Mr. Parris is saying, that the intelligence does include the satellite information and photograph information. Mr. VON RAAB. Yes. The RANGEL. So we could conclude just based on what you have found out from your colleagues in this area that there should be no part of the world that would escape information as to where the crops are. What we can do about it may be another problem, but that information now should be available to us. Mr. VON RAAB. I believe that the executive branch has a pretty good idea of where all the crops are, yes. The RANGEL. Well, Mr. Corcoran, you are an old friend of the committee and the Congress and we would hope that you would join in and prepare any suggestions that you may have to submit to the Congress, recognizing that while we don't legislate, we do sit on the legislating committees. The staff will be in touch with your office to see the feasibility of seeing how the administration could better present to us that team picture, where we are not talking about competition of effort, but to show where this whole thing is going. Perhaps we should ask Dr. Carlton Turner to pull this together for us. But we want to thank you for your cooperation that you have had before the hearings, your patience with us in view of the votes that have been taken. We look forward to continuously working with you. Mr. VON RAAB. Thank you very much. I would like to offer that I or any member of my staff would be happy at any time to meet with your committee, of course, but with various members of the committee if they are interested in talking about narcotics or, for that matter, any customs issues that may involve your particular responsibilities in your committee assignments or with respect to your constituents. So please feel free to contact our Congressional Affairs Office. I will come up myself, if you want, or if it is more specific we will send up someone in that area. But please regard that as a sincere offer on my part. The RANGEL. If there are no further questions then the committee will stand adjourned subject to the call of the Chair. Thank you very much. [Whereupon, at 12:05 p.m., the select committee was adjourned, to reconvene subject to the call of the Chair.] [Responses to questions posed to the Customs Service during the hearing follow:] We have received Mr. Corcoran's reply of August 19, 1983, to my letter of July 29, 1983, asking for certain additional information relating to the proposed elimination of 2,000 positions in Customs under the 1984 budget. Thank you for your prompt attention to this request. As a further follow-up to our June 8 hearing, we would appreciate your written responses to the enclosed questions. This will complete our hearing record and will enable us to prepare our recommendations to the House on Customs' role in our nation's drug enforcement strategy. enclosed In response to your letter of September 9, are our responses to questions raised at the June 8 hearing. Sincerely AMERICA SONOO Richard W. Miller Special Assistant to the Commissioner Charles B. Rangel, Chairman Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control House of Representatives Enclosures 30-598 0-84--18 QUESTION: 1. In your testimony, you referred to experiments underway at JFK and Los Angeles airports to test the use of airway bills instead of Customs manifests in processing cargo. a. b. C. Instead of the mainfest as an inventory of imported The test of the AWB procedure at LAX and JFK Airports Customs has experienced an almost 90% reduction in |