High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HITDA) is an effective program that provides federal, state, and local law enforcement with a unique opportunity to cooperate and collaborate in attacking the economic basis of the drug trade. The genesis of the HIDTA program was built on the premise that federal, state, and local agencies will have an equal voice in managing their individual HIDTA to address regional drug threats. The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) provides a neutral environment for the program to flourish.

Congress established the HIDTA Program to operate under the direction of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 (P. L.100-690, November 18, 1988) and the ONDCP Reauthorization Act of 1998. The Program provides Federal assistance to better coordinate and enhance counter drug law enforcement efforts of local, state, and Federal law enforcement agencies in areas where major drug production, manufacturing, importation, or distribution flourishes, as well as the attendant money laundering of drug proceeds.

The Puerto Rico/US Virgin Islands (PR/USVI) HIDTA was designated in 1994 by the U.S. Congress and received its funding in 1995. The program continues to be operated through the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). HIDTAs also provides additional federal resources to help eliminate or reduce drug trafficking and its harmful consequences. In the USVI, there are four task forces addressing differing aspects of drug trafficking: 1) St. Croix Major Organizations Investigations, led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); 2) St. Thomas Major Organizations Investigations, led by the DEA; 3) Project Safe Neighborhood, led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and 4) the Blue Lightning Strike Force, led by the Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD). Law enforcement task forces are generally collocated federal and local law agents and officers goal oriented toward specific tasks or criminal activity.

The DEA led St. Croix and St. Thomas task forces focus on highly complex, sophisticated, long-term investigations of drug trafficking organizations while ATF Safe Streets addresses drug related gun violence. VIPD’s Blue Lightning provides maritime law enforcement as it related to drug trafficking and its related criminal activities.

PR/USVI HIDTA is a performance success story, rated #1 in 2002 among all HIDTAs nationwide, as well as other awards. The Virgin Islands membership spans from 1994 to present. Virgin Islands representation on the Executive Board include the U.S. Attorney, Attorney General, Adjutant General, Commissioner of Police and separately since 2003, the Drug Policy Advisor.

PR/USVI HIDTA operates under the supervision of an Executive Board which comprises a voting membership of 20 agencies (10 State & 10 Federal). The Chairperson serves a one-year term and can be either a Federal or State representative. The Vice Chair must be a State Rep if the Chairperson is Federal, and vice versa. Virgin Islands former VI Attorney General Iver Stridiron has served as Chairperson. I am the current Chairperson.

The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program is very important to the USVI. Since its inception, HIDTA has been of substantial assistance in the USVI criminal justice arena. It facilitates coordination and collaboration in a uniform and consistent manner; provides or accesses free training for local law enforcement; provides a forum; provides an Executive Board, which allows the USVI to serve as an equal partner in developing a Threat Assessment; provides a Strategy and the necessary budget to achieve the agreed upon goals, and provides funds for specialized and sophisticated equipment to facilitate improved law enforcement.

Last year, (FY 2006), against very strong opposition, Director of ONDCP John Walters proposed moving the HIDTA Program from his office of state and local affairs to the US Department of Justice, and reducing its funding by more than fifty percent. Congress overwhelmingly rejected Mr. Walter’s proposal. Director Walter has again proposed moving the program-similar to his original proposal, reducing its funding from $227 million in FY 2006 to $208 million in FY 2007.

The contention from all HIDTA Directors with full law enforcement support has been and remains that the proposal jeopardizes the hard-fought successes and efficiencies HIDTA consistently achieves hands down, and outright rejects Walter’s recommendations.

Historically, the HIDTA Program has not received a funding increase since 1998 in spite of the fact that this program seized billions of dollars worth of illegal firearms and drugs. It has been repeatedly stated that transferring the HIDTA Program to DOJ isolates its majority stakeholders - state and local government agencies. In FY 2004 state and local law enforcement agencies invested approximately $630 million of their own resources to support the $227 million federal investment in HIDTA. Most of these stakeholders are opposed to moving HIDTA from ONDCP to DOJ, as they believe their input will be marginalized in a non-neutral environment.

PR/USVI HIDTA is committed to intensifying our efforts to identify, target, arrest, and dismantle the leadership of these criminal drug trafficking organizations. The combined investigations of the all the law enforcement agencies continue to result in the seizure of hundreds of tons of drugs, hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds, the indictments of significant drug traffickers, and the dismantling of the leadership of these organizations. HIDTA is good news for law enforcement; it is good news for the Territory and the Caribbean. Help us give this important initiative the funding and attention we all deserve.