Murtha vows to fight Bush proposal to cut drug intel center

[Minstrel Boy]

Murtha vows to fight Bush proposal to cut drug intel center

Associated Press, Feb. 8, 2005
JOHNSTOWN, Pa.

The National Drug Intelligence Center is slated to close under President Bush's proposed fiscal 2006 budget, but a veteran congressman who helped bring the center to the city in 1993 said he will fight to keep it open.

"I can assure employees that the NDIC won't be closed," U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said in a statement, calling the proposal "outrageous."

The NDIC has about 300 employees, most of whom work at the center in Johnstown, about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh. Their job is to coordinate drug intelligence gathered by various federal agencies, so the Justice Department can more effectively target drug traffickers. The information is also used in anti-terrorism efforts.

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NDIC is "one of the most important agencies we have working against drugs and terrorism," Murtha said. "It's outrageous that an agency with that kind of impact would be notified by fax that there was a proposal in the budget to close it down."

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