Independent U.S. Sen. Angus King of Maine is calling for increased Navy help in the effort to block drugs being smuggled into the United States.
King says the Coast Guard and existing drug interdiction efforts are only stopping a fraction of illegal drugs destined for the United States. In a hearing Tuesday of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he asked Navy Secretary Richard Spencer to dedicate more assets, possibly littoral combat ships, to the cause.
“People are dying in my state, one a day. Please see if you can find a way to allocate LCS or other maritime assets to work with the Coast Guard to interdict those drug shipments,” he says. “It is inexcusable that we know of a drug shipment and we can’t do anything about it because of a lack of maritime assets.”
Spencer says he hopes to reassign additional warships to drug interdiction in the months ahead.
