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the Department of State has neither the authority nor the resources to manage such activities.
The Department of Justice, on the other hand, has law enforcement jurisdiction in the United States. Moreover, through its membership on the Cabinet Committee it is able to function as the bridge between the overseas and the domestic aspects of the overall United States effort to suppress illicit traffic in narcotics.
In order for an intelligence analysis group to be effective, it must have a constant flow of information from the field; it must have qualified analysts; it must have a data storage capability; it must have an awareness of the requirements of its customers; and it must have a responsive communications network in order to receive and dispatch information rapidly.
Why, then, was it necessary to establish an Office of National Narcotics Intelligence in the Department of Justice separate and dis- tinct from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs which has an Office of Strategic Intelligence (OSI)? OSI is operational—it has experienced analysts; it has a communications capability; it has a lim- ited data storage capability which can be expanded. BNDD agents are and have been operating in foreign countries and they have developed working relationships with State and local law enforcement agencies. ONNI, on the other hand, must develop assets which BNDD already possesses. This will require more time than has been anticipated. For despite the fact that ONNI was established on July 27, 1972, it is not yet operational. Originally it was thought that ONNI would be func- tioning by the beginning of October. This estimate, which was revised to mid-November, has now been changed to "around Christmas". There are a number of reasons for this.
First, ONNI did not have any funds until the Congress appropriated $2.1 million for the Office in October 1972. Second, the Director, who was appointed in July, was assigned two small rooms in the Depart- ment of Justice annex and, as of November 16, 1972, still did not have space sufficient in which to establish a working office.
Third, the precise role that ONNI is expected to play in the over- all U.S. effort to control drug abuse has not been articulated and there is confusion within the narcotics suppression community as to what the relationship between ONNI on the one hand and BNDD, Cus- toms, State, and CIA on the other, will be.
It was the opinion of many narcotics officials that before ONNI can perform a useful function in the overall narcotics suppression ef- fort, its precise role and position must be more clearly defined. What- ever that role, it will be some time before ONNI develops the capa- bility to produce and disseminate meaningful and useful intelligence on narcotics.
EFFECTIVENESS OF THE CABINET COMMITTEE
As an organization, the Cabinet Committee has not been particu- larly active. There has been one formal meeting since it was estab- lished on September 7, 1971, and the Working Group which is the operating arm of the Committee, has met only three times. Asked why the Cabinet Committee, and especially the Working Group met so infrequently, several senior officials responded that because the mem-
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