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© St. Petersburg Times, published November 7, 2001
DEA chief: War on terrorism is hampering war on drugs
WASHINGTON -- The war against terrorism is diverting federal agents, patrol boats and other resources from the war on drugs, the nation's chief narcotics officer said Tuesday.
"It's a battle of resources right now," Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson said. It's particularly an issue for the Coast Guard and the FBI, he said. "When the dust settles, there will be discussions."
The FBI has yanked agents off narcotics cases for counterterrorism duty, Hutchinson said, and Coast Guard cutters that once were dedicated to patrolling for narcotics shipments now watch over vulnerable seaports.
IRVINE, Calif. -- Robert Zumberge can't seem to get enough cowboy coffee -- a steaming concoction of hot java and dark chocolate miniatures. For Kim Almquist, it's candy.
People across the country have turned to food -- from chocolate to mashed potatoes to peanut butter and jelly -- to deal with the anxiety of the Sept. 11 attacks and anthrax scares, according to dietitians and psychologists.
"What's one more chocolate?" asks Almquist, 24. "It seems a little strange to be obsessing about something like that when there's so much more going on."
Zumberge, 49, typically would think twice about indulging his sweet coffee craving. "But now? Not so much," he says.
A recent A.C. Nielsen survey of grocery store sales shows a spike in comfort food purchases. It found snack food sales increased nearly 12.4 percent in September over the previous year; the sale of instant potatoes jumped almost 13 percent, according to Information Resources Inc.
WASHINGTON -- There have been "numerous violations" of a one-week ban on flights around 95 U.S. nuclear facilities, the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday.
The FBI prompted the temporary no-fly zones around the nuclear-related plants Oct. 30 after receiving classified information about the potential for another terrorist assault. The ban was to be lifted Tuesday night.
All the violations of restricted airspace are being investigated to determine if they were accidental or intentional, FAA spokesman William Shumann said. He declined to provide the number of violations.
An al-Qaida training manual for terrorists might become the latest catalog addition of a Colorado publishing company.
Scripps Howard News Service quoted an unnamed spokesman for Paladin Books as saying the project was being considered.
Parts of the manuscript already are available on the Internet.
"We dug up something on the Internet, but it was only a partial manuscript," said Lyle Stuart, president of Barricade Books, the Fort Lee, N.J., publisher that was the first to locate the material.
"This script was 140 pages long, but I understand the complete one is something like 1,000 pages."
Scripps Howard quoted the unnamed Paladin spokesman as saying it was closer to 180 pages.
Asked why Barricade Books was willing to turn the project over to Paladin, Stuart said: "We've had a relationship in the past with Paladin, and this seemed like a natural for Paladin to do for their audience. I called the head of Paladin (Peder Lund), and he was all excited about it." Lund wasn't available for comment.
WASHINGTON -- The government is investigating hundreds of Internet sites offering products to counter bioterrorism.
The Federal Trade Commission disclosed the widening investigation Tuesday, telling a lawmaker that more Web sites claiming to fight bioterrorism are being launched every day.
The Food and Drug Administration last week took the first step in shutting down 11 foreign pharmacies illegally selling Cipro via the Internet. The FDA said it had no way to tell if the alleged Cipro sold on those Web sites was real or had been manufactured safely. It is illegal to sell antibiotics over the Internet without a proper doctor's prescription.
The investigation has now gone beyond foreign Cipro, the FTC disclosed in a letter to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. The federal government and more than 30 states are investigating sites touting, among other things, dietary supplements as anthrax or smallpox treatments, gas masks and home test kits for anthrax.