unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (09/03/89)
DOD: NEWS BRIEFING BY ASD/PA PETE WILLIAMS, SEPT 1, 1989, ON COLOMBIAN AID
NEWS BRIEFING
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 1, 1989
Good afternoon. We're getting together with you informally here to
bring you up to date on what's happening. I'm not here because I have some
urgent, new policy or anything like that to discuss with you but we're
headed for a long and possibly busy weekend. So before we all got out of here
I wanted to get everybody together and give you the current state play here.
Things continue to move along. I'm sure you all understand that this
list of what we're providing the Colombian government is an evolving process,
contiues to change as the days go by, as the discussions continue. So, I'm
not here because we've reached some end point, I'm here simply not because
something is driving this, my being here in terms of the Department. I'm just
doing this for your convenience before you all get out of here.
All right. Let me run through what I know and then I'll be happy to take
your questions.
The United States and the Government of Colombia have reached initial
agreement on the major items to be provided to Colombia for its counter-
narcotics effort.
The Defense Department will deliver two C-130B's, which are medium-
range cargo planes on Sunday. They are National Guard planes now based in
Louisville, Kentucky and Martinsburg, West Virginia. And both of them will
be carrying spare parts when they go.
On Monday, eight OA-37 airplanes will be delivered to Colombia. The
A-37 is a small, twin engine jet, it's an observation and attack aircraft.
They will come from National Guard bases in Illinois and Michigan.
On Tuesday, we will send five UH-1 helicopters Huey helicopters aboard
a C-5 cargo airplanes. The UH-1 is a versatile utility helicopter that can
carry troops or supplies. Also on the aircraft will be some bulletproof
vests for the judicial protection program. The reason they're there is that
we're taking advantage of the fact that a cargo airplane is going with a lot
of carrying capacity.
We do not plan to send any other fixed-wing aircraft as part of the
counter-narcotics aid package.
We will also provide trucks, jeeps, small boats, individual weapons,
radios, and troop support equipment as the Colombian government has requested.
Other items that are on the list.
The first Defense Department personnel arrived in Colombia late yester-
day to help handle the equipment once it arrives. These first support per-
sonnel, about ten of them came from our installations in Panama. Additional
personnel will follow to help unload and reassemble the equipment and to
train the Colombians. We will also provide maintenance personnel who can
help train the Columbians keep equipment running.
As I said yesterday, we expect the total number of DoD personnel to be
somewhere between 50 and 100, although I would emphasize that we don't expect
that they would all be in Colombia at the same time. As a matter of fact, I
would doubt that they would all be in Colombia at any given time. They will
continue to come and go as the training schedule and logistics support mission
demands throughout the duration of this mission. But I can't tell you pre-
cisely how long the mission will take.
U.S. military personnel will not participate in operations and will not
accompany Colombian personnel on their own anti-narcotics operations.
The equipment will be shipped in a sequence which is designed to allow
the Colombian military to begin to use what we send them immediately as it
arrives. The first equipment to arrive will be that with which the Colombians
are most familiar, allowing their forces to move this equipment to those
locations where it is most needed and begin to use it immediately. The follow
on equipment will include those items for which some more training is needed.
All of the equipment will come from existing DoD supplies.
Finally, security for U.S. personnel who are sent to Colombia for this
operation will be provided by the Colombian government. We don't anticipate
that U.S. forces will be in an area where security is less than adequate.
So that brings you up to date.
* Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501)
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