Within the Department of State, the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) designs and carries out international counternarcotics policy and programs, while advising and coordinating other U.S. agencies' overseas anti-drug activities. INL provides aid and training to the governments and security forces of countries in which drugs are produced or transported.

INL's program combines economic and security assistance, aiding civilian and military agencies with counternarcotics responsibilities. Types of aid include training, technical assistance, equipment and arms transfers, development assistance (particularly "alternative development" aid to encourage cultivation of legal crops), and aid to administration of justice and domestic drug demand-reduction programs. State Department INL officials themselves may manage assistance programs, or INL funds may be transferred to other government agencies like US Agency for International Development or the Drug Enforcement Administration.

INL's budget saw an enormous increase in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when funding for Latin America roughly tripled after Congress approved the "Plan Colombia" aid package. Since 2000, funding has continued at this higher level.

Since 2002, INL aid to Colombia and six of its neighbors (Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela), has been presented to Congress as a separate account called the "Andean Counterdrug Initiative" or ACI. Though this aid is separated out for presentation purposes, the ACI is identical to other INL aid in both its nature and its administration.

An Interregional Aviation program, managed by INL, uses U.S.-owned aircraft, and contractor or host-country pilots, to perform aerial counter-drug reconnaissance and crop eradication. This program focuses on Colombia, Bolivia and Peru.

INL's Anti-Crime program provides law enforcement training and technical assistance to about 150 countries worldwide. These programs are often carried out by other agencies such as Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the U.S. Customs Service, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

INL works with international organizations as well. It is the largest contributor to the Organization of American States Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) and supports the implementation of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM).

The 2006 INL budget justification also addressed INL's role in counterterrorism efforts, explaining that "to deal with the increasing linkage and overlap among drug, crime, and terrorist groups, INL has begun shifting from separate programs for counternarcotics and anticrime to a broader and more integrated law enforcement effort to combat the full range of criminal, drug, and terrorist threats."

Limitations

Like all security assistance programs funded through the Foreign Operations appropriation, INC is subject to the human rights restrictions found in the Leahy Law.

Reports

The laws which authorize the INC program require regular reporting to Congress about its activities. The most extensive of these reports is the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) required by section 489 of the Foreign Assistance Act. The INCSR discusses certification decisions, narcotics activity, and U.S. programs in each drug source or transit country. It must be submitted every March 1 to the Speaker of the House and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Notification

The Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) also requires that Congress be notified if certain actions are taken within the INC program.

According to section 482(b) of the FAA, INC can only supply weapons or ammunition if they are to be used:

• For the defensive arming of aircraft that are used for counternarcotics purposes; or
• For defensive purposes by State Department employees or contract personnel engaged in counternarcotics activities.

These transfers cannot take place until fifteen days after the President notifies the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, the House International Relations Committee, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Section 484(a) of the FAA specifies that aircraft provided to foreign countries through the INC program must be either leased or loaned. The President may grant aircraft through INC, however, by determining that a lease or loan would be "contrary to the national interest of the United States."

The aircraft cannot be transferred until fifteen days after the President notifies the same congressional committees.

According to section 488 of the FAA, INC funds cannot be obligated for construction until fifteen days after the President notifies the congressional committees.

[The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) is available online at the State Department's website.]