Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ...

365Mr. Ingersoll, "Well, before I went to South Vietnam I had heardfrom my briefings, pretrip briefings, that a common response to representativesto the South Vietnamese Government was, "This is anAmerican problem." 1 let it be known as forcefully as I could that sucha response was not going to be an acceptable answer as far as I wasconcerned. Consequently, I didn't hear it once. To the contrary, Iheard statements of concern by President Thieu and the Prime Minister,which were followed up by action.During the week I was there the President appointed a very closeadviser to head up a special task force reporting directly to him tomonitor all of the activities of the various ministries of the SouthVietnam Government which had a responsibility for this. The weekfollowing my visit there, about 130 people from the customs serviceswere transferred. There are some pending disciplinary actions, perhapscriminal actions, against those for whom provable charges ofcorruption, malfeasance, or nonfeasance of duty, can be levied.The South Vietnamese Government has been made well aware notonly of our concern, but have been made well aware of the fact that weare insisting that sometliing be done to stop the importation of heroininto the territory of South Vietnam.Mr. Brasco. Let me ask you this, Mr. Ingersoll: As a matter ofpolicy, are any of our military police or other law enforcement peoplethat we may have in the area, permitted to particij)ate in arreststhat may involve South Vietnamese civilians? It just seems to methat—I thinlv we are in agreement—the South Vietnamese, to theextent that they grow drugs or import them, are a source of theproblem.If they have sole control over it, it would be sort of like asking aburglar to call the police station and advise them of the next time andplace that he intends to burglarize someone's apartment, and to thatextent I am wondering whether or not that is a combined effort withour people and theirs or are we solely relying on the Government ofSouth Vietnam to work in this area of suppression of the drug traffic ?Mr. Ingersoll. No. At the present there is a combined effort and itis becoming a closer collaborative effort. Out in the provinces there arejoint narcotic teams including representatives of our military investigativeagencies, who work hand in hand with the Vietnam police.At the seat of government, itself, the BNDD agent there, is providinginformation, leads, investigative leads, and monitoring to see thatthey are followed up.AH of this has happened very recently, of course. In the past, collaborationwas inadequate, but it is now becoming increasingly satisfactory.Mr. Brasco. Thank you.Chairman Pepper. Mr. Winn.Mr. Winn. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.I have two short questions. The chairman referred to the pressuresthat we might be able to put on the countries that we are furnishingmilitary and monetary aid to, but isn't the real secret to this problem,and I agree with the philosophy, that it sounds good, but as you pointout, it looks to me like the real problems are the uncontrollables. Thoseare the bad guys to start with.60-296—71—pt.