S.Amdt. 1427

SA 1427. Mr. NELSON of Florida submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 1042, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2006 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe personnel strengths for such fiscal year for the Armed Forces, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

On page 276, between lines 13 and 14, insert the following:

SEC. 1034. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON FUNDING FOR COUNTER-DRUG TETHERED AEROSTAT SYSTEM.

(a) Findings.--The Senate makes the following findings:

(1) According to the Department of State, drug trafficking organizations shipped approximately 9 tons of cocaine to the United States through the Dominican Republic in 2004, and are increasingly using small, high-speed watercraft.

(2) Drug traffickers use the Caribbean corridor to smuggle narcotics to the United States via Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. This route is ideal for drug trafficking because of its geographic expanse, numerous law enforcement jurisdictions, and fragmented investigative efforts.

(3) The tethered aerostat system in Lajas, Puerto Rico contributes to deterring and detecting smugglers moving illicit drugs into Puerto Rico. The range and operational capabilities of the aerostat system allow it to provide surveillance coverage of the eastern Caribbean corridor and the strategic waterway between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, known as the Mona Passage.

(4) Including maritime radar on the Lajas aerostat will expand its ability to detect suspicious vessels in the eastern Caribbean corridor.

(b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that--

(1) Congress and the Department of Defense should fully fund the Counter-Drug Tethered Aerostat program; and

(2) Congress and the Department of Defense should install maritime radar on the Lajas, Puerto Rico, aerostat system.