he man selected last week by President Bush to head up the nation's floundering "war on drugs" is expected to seek an expanded role for churches and other religious groups in operating faith-based rehabilitation services, and ministering to inmates throughout the penal system. In addition, John P. Walters -- the new drug czar -- is a close associate of White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives director John DiIulio, and co-authored a discredited book with DiIulio and values guru William Bennett.

   Walters, 49, was formerly at the Department of Education where he headed a "Schools Without Drugs" program and worked closely with Bennett, who was then active in the anti-drug campaign of Mr. Bush's father. After serving a brief stint as acting drug policy director in 1993, he resigned when President Bill Clinton announced that he was shifting the nation's anti-drug policy to emphasize treatment and prosecution of large scale narcotics dealers. Three years later, Walters denounced the "therapy-only lobby" in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He criticized the Clinton administration stragegy, which he described as "this ineffectual policy -- the latest in manifestation of the liberals concern to a 'therapeutic state' in which government serves as the agent of personal rehabilitation."

   Critics say that Walters embraces failed policies that according to one wire service report, "pack prisons with addicts in hopes of solving drug problems." Ethan Nadelman of the Lindesmith Center, a New York research institute focusing on cultural issues said, "Everything about John Walters' past record suggests that he believes drug policy has nothing to do with science or public health. It's all about punishing people for their sins."

   Walters, though, joins a growing list of key Washington officials such as DiIulio and Tommy Thompson, the new Secretary of Health and Human Services, in giving churches and other religious institutions greater access to public tax money, and a wider role both in the personal lives of Americans citizens through the operation of social programs.

   Walters recently served as president of the Philanthropy Roundtable, a professional group focusing on non-profit charities, and headed the New Citizenship Foundation Project which according to a New York Times profile "promoted the role of religion in public life." NCF was the creation of the Bradley Foundation, a Wiscon-based group active in the school voucher movement, which has also funded groups such as The Fatherhood Initiative.

   NCF is also listed with numerous religious groups such as Christian Coalition, Family Research Council, and Victory Ministries announcing their support for legislation introduced by Rep. J.C. Watts that establishes dozens of "renewal communities" throughout the country. The measure is part of the American Community Renewal Act, which calls for the use of public funds in promoting faith-based social programs. Watts is also the joint architect of H.R. 7, the "Community Solutions Act" which would expand "charitable choice" and other public entitlement programs for churches and other religious organizations.

   In 1996, Walters, DiIulio and Brennett jointly authored "Body Count" (Simon & Shuster) which warned of a coming demographic wave of so-called "juvenile superpredators." The trio blamed a breakdown in the traditional family, a population turning away from religious values, rampant secularization and other factors for creating a street army of mostly-male youths preying on the larger culture. "Here is what we believe," they wrote. "America is now home to thickening ranks of juvenile superpredators -- radically impulsive, brutally remorseless youngsers, including ever more preteenage boys, who murder, assault, rape, rob, burglarize, deal deadly drugs, join gun-toting gangs and create serious communal disorders."

   As project leader for the "Body Count" study, DiIulio was criticized as "sensationalist" and "a simplistic analyst who rather toadied to that point of view," charged University of Chicago law professor Noval Morris. "He should have known better than that."

   The "superpredator" theory turned out to be a faulty prognostication, though, as juvenile crime rates continued to drop. Even so, it served the ideological purposes of groups who saw the erosion of "traditional values," including religious faith, as a root cause of alleged American social malaise. The critics piled on, with one describing DiIulio, "Though a respected academic... (he) was suddenly questioned by peers, who said he seemed to be providing cover for what they considered partisan politics..."

   The "superpredator" theory of a coming youth Armageddon soon joined other academic fashions like satanic ritual abuse and "crack baby" epidemics in the sociological rubbish bin. DiIulio then found a renewed calling, that of getting American society back to church and religious values. According to interviews, DiIulio underwent an "ephiphany, a conversion of heart, a conversion of mind" and was transformed during a church service on Palm Sundy from a "complacent Roman Catholic to one who took his religion seriously."

   The "superpredator" kids then became objects of spiritual concern. While a professor of government policy at University of Pennsylvania, DiIulio continued work with Walters, Bennett and others in the burgeoning "civil society" movement that called for religious and community renewal as a new approach in public policy.

   John Walters' appointment as the nation's top drug cop fills another government niche with officials who view religion -- and religious groups -- as key components in the Bush public policy agenda. Already, Bush has named a Pentecostal Christian, John Ashcroft, as Attorney General, and appointed former Gov. Tommy Thompson, a leading proponent of voucher aid to religious schools, as the man in charge of health and human services. Walters can be expected to use the Office of National Drug Control Policy and its $19 billion budget as a stepping stone to aiding faith-based social outreaches.

   At a Rose Garden ceremony announcing Walters' appointment, Bush told visitors and media that he would keep the post of drug czar at the White House Cabinet level and added that he was directing faith-based head John DiIulio to review existing federal partnerships with local groups involved in anti-drug efforts.

   "He asked Thompson to do a state-by-state evaluation of current treatment needs," noted an Associated Press dispatch, "and Attorney General John Ashcroft to look into making prisons drug-free, including expanded drug testing of those on parole or probation." Added symbolism perhaps came when Bush singled out a member of the an anti-drug group in California who was a graduate from the controverisal Teen Challenge rehabilitation program. Teen Challenge, a religion-based outreach which targets drug and alcohol abusers, received special state assistance from Bush while he was Governor of Texas.

   Bush added: "This administration will focus unprecedented attention on the demand side of this (drug) problem. We recognize that the most important work to reduce drug use is done in America's living rooms and classrooms, in churches, in synagogues and mosques, in the workplace and in our neighborhoods."

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