Up In Smoke: DoD, Ineffectiveness, and the Distracting Persistence of Counternarcotics
Chris Bernotavicius, Ryan Kertis and Scott Alvarez | 12.09.21
Department of Defense support to counternarcotics in the Western Hemisphere and beyond should serve as a warning sign for policymakers focused on strategic rebalancing. The secretary of the Navy highlights strategic priorities heavily focused on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a pacing threat; the commandant of the Marine Corps proposes a vastly new concept of operations; and the Army struggles with the competing demands of modernization and budget pressure. A new DoD report even highlights the accelerated pace of the PRC’s nuclear expansion with capabilities far exceeding previous expectations. But a strategic shift doesn’t always translate to changes in bureaucratic structure. Service- and department-level strategic visions compete against regionally focused combatant commands driven by current threats in their areas of responsibility.
Fifty years of failed results in the Western Hemisphere and globally cast strong doubts on the efficacy of DoD’s counternarcotics efforts. Moreover, even the landscape of today’s domestic drug epidemic is far different from the interdiction and the reduction model focused on the supply side that DoD has employed. With many advocating that DoD must shed some missions and accept some risk to focus on competition with rising powers, the logic seems clear: counternarcotics is an ill-fated venture at campaigning below the level of armed conflict. Yet the support continues, to the tune of more than $800 million if the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s mark on the FY22 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is any indication. It is a figure that has remained remarkably consistent in recent years, totaling over $10 billion alone since the start of the pivot to Asia. Now, continued support threatens to continue to sap resources in an increasingly constrained environment.
https://mwi.usma.edu/up-in-smoke-dod-ineffectiveness-and-the-distracting-persistence-of-counternarcotics/
