NDIC in crosshairs: Agency’s future remains uncertain

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The National Drug Intelligence Center has been the target of budget cuts in Washington, D.C. The NDIC had 225 full-time employees in downtown Johnstown in February. Todd Berkey

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April 16, 2011

Mike Faher mfaher@tribdem.com The Tribune-Democrat Sat Apr 16, 2011, 07:10 PM EDT

— Though Johnstown’s National Drug Intelligence Center survived the latest federal budget battle, its future remains uncertain.

A budget deal for the remainder of this fiscal year cut the center’s spending by about 23 percent.

And deeper funding cuts still are possible, especially since President Barack Obama has proposed slashing the center’s budget for the next fiscal year.

Through it all, the Washington Street agency has continued to monitor drug abuse and trafficking – most recently by releasing a report on drug and gang activity in eastern Pennsylvania. That report “highlighted a regional crisis that cannot be ignored,” said U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat who has fought to preserve NDIC.

When George W. Bush occupied the White House, NDIC was a frequent budget-cutting target. But Bush repeatedly was thwarted by U.S. Rep. John Murtha, whose influence brought the center to Johnstown in the early 1990s.

Just before Murtha died in February 2010, the congressman said he believed NDIC’s future had stabilized because the agency – at the Obama administration’s direction – had been given a specific niche in the Justice Department’s budget.

But things changed drastically this year. Republicans took control of the House in November and renewed calls for NDIC’s closure, saying the center is wasteful and duplicative.

There were at least two bills proposing the agency’s immediate elimination. One passed the House but went no further.

Then, as the federal government neared a shutdown April 8, Republicans and Democrats reached agreement on a deal to cut about $38 billion in federal spending.

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Mark Critz, D-Johnstown, confirmed that NDIC was funded in that deal but at a lower level – $34 million as opposed to the previous $44 million.

That means the center will operate at reduced funding levels for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Critz and Casey have lobbied on behalf of NDIC, saying the center is a valuable asset in anti-drug efforts.

“If the NDIC were to be shut down or significantly cut, we would be forced to spend more money to build the same capacity and resources somewhere else,” the two lawmakers wrote in a January letter to the Office of Management and Budget.

They will have to renew those efforts in the coming months as Congress debates Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal 2012. The president has said he wants to allocate just $25 million to NDIC.

While a Justice Department spokeswoman has said NDIC would remain open and operating in Johnstown, she also said officials are “developing a role for NDIC that will make the best use of its personnel and resources.”

Significant cuts to the agency’s budget would put a dent in the Johnstown region’s economy. As of February, there were 225 full-time NDIC employees working at the center along with 50 contractors.

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NDIC in crosshairs: Agency’s future remains uncertain

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