
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 6, 1990                   TAG: 9006060436
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

DRUG INTELLIGENCE CENTER PLAN ATTACKED

The administration's plan to create a new National Drug Intelligence Center to coordinate information on drug traffickers is being criticized on Capitol Hill as an improper use of scarce money.

Justice Department officials briefed congressional appropriations panels and other executive agencies Tuesday on a detailed plan for the center, which was proposed in President Bush's National Drug Control Strategy earlier this year.

Several lawmakers questioned the proposal to spend money for the center when some law enforcement agencies don't have enough money to hire needed agents, one congressional aide said later.

The plan outlined in a Justice Department study calls for no money to be spent this fiscal year, ending Sept. 30. However, the center would cost about $8.1 million next year and $45.9 million in fiscal 1992, when it would be fully operational with 150 employees.

-Associated Press

by CNB