WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), U.S. Senator Angus King spotlighted the deadly toll that illegal narcotics are taking on Maine people and the nation, as he questioned U.S. Army General Laura Richardson, Commander of the United States Sothern Command (SOUTHCOM), about the U.S. government’s capacity to intercept dangerous drug shipments coming into the United States by sea.

In his exchange with General Richardson, Senator King highlighted that, on average, 300 Americans lose their life due to a drug overdose every day.

“General Richardson, let's talk about another gap: drugs. Since we've been sitting here, about 10 Americans have died of drug overdoses just since we began this meeting 45 minutes ago,” Senator Angus King. “One person a day is dying in my home state of Maine. Do you have the capacity to interdict drug shipments coming in by sea, that we know of? I've asked this question every year for about the past 10 years and I'm afraid I know the answer.”

“Senator, so, in U.S. SOUTHCOM we have the detection and monitoring mission and that is to gain the intelligence for —,” said General Richardson.

“I shouldn't say, do you have the capacity. Do we, does the country? You have the terrific capacity for intelligence and identification,” responded Senator King. “My concern is, once we know about a dangerous shipment, then do we have the capacity to interdict it.”

“So, we pass that intelligence over to law enforcement or our partner nations, and it depends on who's close enough to do that,” replied General Richardson. “And so, in terms of the capacity, we anticipate that we're able to, of what we know is out there, interdict about 10% of the known problem and with the resourcing and capabilities that we currently are given."

“I would emphasize that figure to our colleagues. We can interdict 10% of what we know of. That's inexcusable. And, I don't mean to say it’s inexcusable for you, but one of the problems that strikes me is, when everybody's in charge, nobody's in charge and you've got yourself, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the intelligence community, and the problem is Americans are dying,” continued Senator King. “In about every 10 days, we have September 11 — 3,000 people die in this country every 10 days. And you use the word in your testimony: assault. And that's what it is. It's an assault. But we're treating it as a kind of domestic law enforcement problem when it's an assault, and most of it is coming from outside of our country.”

“So, I hope that you will work with your colleagues perhaps form up a task group to get after this problem of interdiction. And if we don't have capacity, if we don't have enough Coast Guard cutters, or DHS doesn't have the capacity, tell us. Tell us because we can't solve a problem if we don't know what it is. We know the general shape of the problem, but you're in a position to tell us what's missing, and what you can do in order to help protect this country,” concluded Senator King.

A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), Senator King is recognized as an authoritative voice on national security and foreign policy issues. Earlier this week, in an open SSCI hearing, Senator King spoke to top intelligence officials about the immediate need to address the opioid epidemic harming Maine people. In February, Senator King voted in support of the National Security Act of 2024, which — along with aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan — includes a King-supported provision, the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, to crack down on fentanyl trafficking from China and Mexico.

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