Coast Guard Drug Interdiction and Cutter Procurement: Background and Resource Issues

The Coast Guard provided varying levels of resources for drug interdiction operations in the “transit zone”—the area from South America through the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean that is used to transport illicit drugs to the United States—during fiscal years 2009 through 2013, and generally did not meet its performance targets for several reasons. One part of the U.S. National Drug Control Strategy is to disrupt the flow of cocaine through the transit zone. This book addresses trends in the Coast Guard's deployment of resources in the transit zone and the extent to which the Coast Guard met its performance targets; and actions taken by the Coast Guard to combat drug smuggling into Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and trends in vessel and aircraft deployments.