Chuck Grassley: “I intend now to highlight some of the problems in our international control efforts. Many past problems in this area…”

“I intend now to highlight some of the problems in our international control efforts. Many past problems in this area have been documented in testimony before the House and Senate and in reports issued by the Congress. Let me give just a few highlights of recent issues that speak of deep problems. I am concerned that the Administration seems only too willing to give drug producing pariah states a pass. Recently Senator Helms and I wrote the Secretary of State on North Korea. We wanted to know why, with indications that the Government of North Korea is implicated in drug production, that there was not more effort to confront this pariah state. The response was that we don't know enough. Well, why don't we know enough? Basically because we are not asking the questions. We are not putting our collection assets on the problem. This is one way of avoiding confronting North Korea on drug trafficking. This is a country apparently whose only two cash crops are nuclear weapons and illegal drugs. Yet, we ignore their drug activities and provide them help with nuclear materials.”