Joe Biden

Memorandum on the Continuation of United States Drug Interdiction Assistance to the Government of Colombia

August 10, 2021

Presidential Determination No. 2021-10

Memorandum for the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense

Subject: Continuation of U.S. Drug Interdiction Assistance to the Government of Colombia

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, and pursuant to the authority vested in me by section 1012 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995, as amended (22 U.S.C. 2291-4), I hereby certify, with respect to Colombia, that: (1) interdiction of aircraft reasonably suspected to be primarily engaged in illicit drug trafficking in that country's airspace is necessary, because of the extraordinary threat posed by illicit drug trafficking to the national security of that country; and (2) Colombia has appropriate procedures in place to protect against innocent loss of life in the air and on the ground in connection with such interdiction, which includes effective means to identify and warn an aircraft before the use of force is directed against the aircraft.

The Secretary of State is authorized and directed to publish this determination in the Federal Register and to notify the Congress of this determination.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR.

NOTE: This memorandum was published in the Federal Register on August 13.

Joseph R. Biden, Memorandum on the Continuation of United States Drug Interdiction Assistance to the Government of Colombia Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/352255

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