IIRC the CIA was never barred from waterboarding, the Bush admin was very transparent about it.

That's right -- the administration denied it is torture.

I hope that this decision by the current administration doesn't come back to haunt them.

Back when HW Bush was pres. I heard stories of "him" running drugs... Even though I generally did not agree with his political view points I dismissed them.

I doubt that our military regularly carries illegal drugs in and out of anyplace ....could a clever operator have figured out a way to get it done here and there? I wouldn't be surprised.

That is more than likely.

Back in the olden days we used to get drug sniffing dogs on our ship after a Caribbean cruise. They'd sniff through the whole ship before we tied-up in Nofock, VA. I'll bet lots of dope came in that way. I also heard of soldiers returning from Vietnam with significant dope. No reason why CIA boys and girls or contractors would be immune to that.

One way to take that activity is the government was behind it. I mean, sailors & soldiers work for the gov, right?

uh, golden triangle/oss/chiang kai shek (sp?) goes back to the 40's.

don't be naive.

and what the f>*/ does the coast guard have to do with this anyway? not aware you were patrolling in central america and southeast asia?:D

I have no reason to doubt your statements about never having seen it and believing that it didn't happen.

OTOH, there's a lot of smoke around this story, both in Lat.Am. and Vn. And I've come across too many horror stories involving rogue CIA people to not consider that it might be true.

It's a tough one. You can't prove a negative and if it did happen, it's been well hidden by people expert in that craft.

Single people or small groups sure but nothing sponsored by an agency or the Pentagon. There was a group of soldiers arrested for smuggling from Columbia to the US but they were caught and court marshaled lickety split.

A full blown conspiracy is impossible nobody can keep a secret long enough for it not to be discovered.

Those came out because the Medellin cartel had a few former CIA pilots working for them, who would fly drugs to the US and money to Noriega. Couple that with "no ever really leaves the CIA" and presto - conspiracy.