U.S. unveils anti-drug strategy for SW border

U.S. unveils anti-drug strategy for SW border       The Obama administration on Friday released its comprehensive strategy for stemming the flow of illegal weapons and drug revenue into Mexico in an effort to help the Mexican government combat drug cartels and stop a recent spate of violence along the southwest border.
   Leading the effort are the departments of Homeland Security and Justice, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The strategy is heavy on intelligence sharing, communication and cooperation between local, state, federal and Mexican officials seeking to dismantle drug organizations and prosecute members.
   The plans also call for tougher inspections, more enforcement personnel, and greater use of inspection technologies for outbound traffic.
   Director of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske said the long-term goal is to reduce drug demand in the United States. The Obama administration early next year will release its new drug policy intended to treat drug use as a public health issue rather than a law enforcement one, he said. The Obama administration has already ended the use of the term 'war on drugs' to describe its approach to illegal drug use.
   'We won't beat back this tough challenge through border interdiction alone,' Kerlikowske said. 'The best way to partner with President Calderon and the Mexican authorities is to gain a deep understanding of the traffickers' operations. That means we have to collect, analyze, and disseminate vast quantities of information, invest the time in complex investigations, use all of the legal investigatory tools available to us, and conduct operations such as controlled deliveries of drugs, money, and weapons which enable us to see deeply into drug trafficking organizations.'
   Many elements of the plan were already in place, but the strategy goes into greater detail about how the government intends to counter narcotics traffickers. The counternarcotics strategy, for example, says that extra interdiction efforts will not be effective without a strong risk management system for targeting suspicious cross-border traffic by using advance data identifying passengers and cargo before they arrive at the border checkpoint.
   U.S. Customs and Border Protection has recently created a new Outbound Division within the Office of Field Operations to develop and implement security programs that safeguard legitimate trade from being used to smuggle weapons and other contraband into Mexico, according to the report. DHS also received $42 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will be used to purchase non-intrusive inspection equipment for southwest border ports of entry. The agency also plans to increase the use of canine units that can sniff for drugs and bundles of cash.
   The report also says the government will work with Mexican authorities to deploy effective non-intrusive inspection technologies on the Mexican side of the border, as well as airports and ports.
   To read more about how the Department of Homeland Security's increased outbound inspections are affecting cargo transportation and local communities see the cover story in the June issue of American Shipper magazine.
   To read the full Counternarcotics Strategy, go to: https://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/swb_counternarcotics_strategy09/swb_counternarcotics_strategy09.pdf
' Eric Kulisch