WASHINGTON – Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Chairman of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, and Co-Chairman Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), will hold a hearing Wednesday, May 16 at 2:30 p.m. on drug trafficking and U.S. efforts to counter emerging narcotics-related threats in West Africa.
Recently, the State Department launched the West Africa Cooperative Security Initiative and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has started to train personnel in the region.
In 2009, wholesale profits to cocaine traffickers in West Africa were estimated at $800 million. Methamphetamine labs were recently found for the first time on the continent. Narcotics trafficking contributed to a recent coup in Guinea Bissau and threatens to destabilize other key U.S. allies in West Africa.
Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control Hearing on
Countering Narcotics Threats in West Africa
2:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 16, 2012
562 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Thomas Harrigan
Deputy Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration
William Brownfield
Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, State Department
Johnnie Carson
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, State Department
William Wechsler
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics and Global Threats, Department of Defense