National Security Archive Update, April 23, 2001 *Shoot Down in Peru: The Secret U.S. Debate over Intelligence Sharing in Peru and Colombia* <http://www.nsarchive.org/NSAEBB/NSAEBB44> On Friday, April 20, 2001, a Peruvian Air Force jet, acting on intelligence supplied by a U.S. intelligence plane, shot down a civilian aircraft that was mistakenly suspected of being part of a drug trafficking operation. An American missionary and her infant daughter were killed in a hail of gunfire, and the Bush administration immediately suspended all U.S. drug interdiction flights over Peru. The National Security Archive has obtained through the Freedom of Information act declassified U.S. government documents pertaining to the policy debate that arose after the governments of Peru and Colombia announced their intention to use weapons against civilian aircraft suspected of carrying illegal narcotics. The current policy on the sharing of aerial tracking intelligence with Peru and Colombia was formulated in 1994, but not without a significant amount of debate within the Clinton administration, some of whom warned that, �mistakes are likely to occur under any policy that contemplates the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight,� and that, �A shootdown leading to the death of innocent persons would likely be a serious diplomatic embarrassment for the United States.� The debate resulted at first in the suspension of �real-time� aerial tracking assistance with the two governments, but the suspension was soon lifted after vigorous opposition from the State Department and especially from the embassies in Lima and Bogot�. The declassified documents featured in this Electronic Briefing Book provide a revealing glimpse of the priorities that Clinton administration officials weighed during this episode, and expose deep interdepartmental divisions about the appropriateness of the U.S. response. The administration ultimately decided that the best course of action was to alter the existing U.S. law to allow U.S. aerial tracking data to be used in operations against suspicious aircraft �if the President has determined that such actions are necessary because of the threat posed by drugtrafficking [sic] to the national security of that country and that the country has appropriate procedures in place to protect innocent aircraft.� This policy did not seek a solution to the international legal problems raised by the forcedown policy, but rather sought �to reduce the [United States government�s] exposure to criticism that such assistance violates international law.� <http://www.nsarchive.org/NSAEBB/NSAEBB44> _______________________________________________ THE NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and individuals. ___________________________________________________________________ PRIVACY NOTICE The National Security Archive does not and will never share the names or e-mail addresses of its subscribers with any other organization. Once a year, we will write you and ask for your financial support. We may also ask you for your ideas for Freedom of Information requests, documentation projects, or other issues that the Archive should take on. We would welcome your input, and any information you care to share with us about your special interests. But we do not sell or rent any information about subscribers to any other party. ___________________________________________________________________ TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THE LIST You may leave the list at any time by sending a "SIGNOFF NSARCHIVE" command to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. You can also unsubscribe from the list anytime by using the following link: <http://hermes.circ.gwu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=nsarchive&A=1>
