
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 8, 1990                   TAG: 9006080169
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

DEA BREAK WITH FBI PROPOSED

In 1982, when federal drug-fighters were told to report through the FBI, the then-chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration would point to a special hot line on his desk that connected directly to FBI headquarters to symbolize the close coordination of the two agencies.

But now the Department of Justice wants "to reflect reality," as one official put it, by removing the DEA from the general supervision of the FBI director so that both agencies report separately and directly to Attorney General Dick Thornburgh.

Requiring the top drug official to report through the FBI director had stirred deep resentment inside the DEA and has not been the actual practice since 1988.

And as Harry H. Flickinger, assistant attorney general for administration, noted in a letter made public Wednesday to Rep. Neal Smith, D-Iowa, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Justice Department, the "reporting relationship has proven to be impractical."

"Both DEA and FBI have significantly different missions," Department of Justice spokesman Dan Eramian said Wednesday. "To have the DEA report to the FBI adds another layer of bureaucracy and slows down the flow of information."

Drawing an analogy to a football team, Eramian said: "If a head coach wants to know what the defensive coach is doing, he certainly doesn't go to the offensive coach."

The proposed change, which will be implemented if Smith raises no objection by mid-June, marks the fifth reorganization involving the DEA since 1973.

by CNB