Drug Chief Says U.S. Needs ‘Border Czar’

Barry McCaffrey, White House national drug policy coordinator, said in El Paso, Texas, that the United States needs a “border czar” because no one is in charge of the vast resources the country pours each year into fighting drugs along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. He was in El Paso to meet with U.S. and Mexican officials about his idea. He wants overseers at each of the 24 ports of entry along the border to coordinate antidrug efforts under the direction of a border czar appointed by the president. McCaffrey said he plans to have a proposal ready by the fall.