| Section
1031 of the 1997 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 104-201)
permitted the Secretary of Defense to provide the Government of Mexico
with limited support for counter-drug activities.
The
types of support authorized included:
- Nonlethal
protective and utility personnel equipment;
- Nonlethal
specialized equipment such as night vision systems, navigation,
communications, photo, and radar equipment;
- Nonlethal
components, accessories, attachments, parts, firmware, and software
for aircraft or patrol boats, and related repair equipment; and
- Maintenance
and repair of equipment used for counter-drug activities.
Section
1031 did not authorize transfers of aircraft.
The
amount authorized was not to exceed $8 million, to be spent during
Fiscal Year 1997. When the Defense Department failed to deliver
the full $8 million of support by the end of FY 1997, Congress granted
an extension, but authorized no new money, for FY 1998. The authorization
expired on September 30, 1998, the last day of the government's
fiscal year.
The
White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
reported in September 1997 that the $8 million financed a Foreign
Military Sales (FMS) purchase of spare parts
and components for UH-1H helicopters. Seventy-three of these helicopters
were transferred to Mexico in 1996 and 1997 through a drawdown
and through the excess defense articles (EDA)
program.1
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While
limiting the Defense Department to the types of support listed at
left, section 1031 carried several other restrictions and reporting
requirements.
Congress
would not release funds until 15 days after the Secretary of Defense
submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, the House National Security Committee and the
House International Relations Committee a written certification
that:
- Providing
the equipment would not affect the preparedness of the U.S. armed
forces;
- The
equipment would be used only by Mexican government officials and
employees who had undergone a Mexican government background check;
and
- The
Mexican government had certified that none of the equipment would
be transferred to any other person or entity not authorized by
the United States, and that the equipment would be used only for
the purposes intended by the U.S. government.
The
law required that the Mexican government maintain a thorough inventory
of the equipment provided, and allow U.S. government personnel access
to any of this equipment or to any records having to do with it.
The Mexican government had to guarantee the equipment's security
to a degree deemed satisfactory by the U.S. government, and to permit
continuous review by U.S. government personnel of the equipment's
use.
Text
of Section 1031 and related committee reports:
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