And from “the history”:
USADA is the independent anti-doping agency for Olympic related sport in the United States. It was created as the result of recommendations made by the United States Olympic Committee’s Select Task Force on Externalization to uphold the Olympic ideal of fair play, and to represent the interests of Olympic, Pan American Games, and Paralympic athletes.
The USOC was aware that its program lacked credibility internationally for a number of reasons, and the task force was charged with recommending both the governing structure (as represented by the Board of Directors) and responsibilities, which should be assumed by the new agency.
USADA began operations Oct. 1, 2000. Its board consisted of nine members, five of whom came from outside the Olympic family and four of whom (two each) were elected by the Athlete Advisory Council (AAC) and National Governing Body (NGB) Council.
USADA was given full authority to execute a comprehensive national anti-doping program encompassing testing, adjudication, education, and research, and to develop programs, policies, and procedures in each of those areas.
In 2003 the Board further extended its independence by choosing to consider recommendations from the AAC and NGBs, but ultimately electing its own members. USADA is still an evolving organization, and its history is still being written.
Note the ominous phrase “Given full authority to execute...”
And again, note that their charter is for olympics. Last I looked, the Tour De France had nothing to do with Olympics.
Was Lance Armstrong competing in the 2012 Olympics and I didn’t notice?
It doesn’t matter how narrow the USADA charter was originally. USA Cycling is the governing body for cyclists from the United States and that is the organization American cyclists go through to get a racing license. USA Cycling uses the USADA as their anti-doping organization. The USADA has made a decision to sanction a number of cyclists and USA Cycling has made the decision to enforce the sanctions. The Union Cycliste Internationale has not yet announced that they will enforce the sanctions. That is the body that will ultimately decide if Armstrong is stripped of his Tour de France titles. That’s where the situation gets sticky. There is suspicion(and allegations) that the UCI helped sweep drug use under the rug and would probably prefer not to strip the titles. The problem with that is that if the UCI doesn’t strip the titles, there is fear that the World Anti-Doping Agency will recommend that cycling be dropped from the Olympics.