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Statement by: Errol J.
Chavez Before the: House Committee
on Government Reform: Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial
Management, and Intergovernmental Relations Date: April 13,
2001 Note: This document may not reflect changes made in actual delivery.
Good Morning Chairman Horn, Congressman Souder and other distinguished members of this subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to address this subcommittee on our efforts to interdict drugs coming into California and the coordination of these efforts with state and local law enforcement counterparts. Before I start, on behalf of Administrator Marshall I would like to thank you for your consistent support of the DEA in carrying out our mission of enforcing the nation's drug laws. Let me begin by saying the 140-mile border between California and Mexico, and the Southwest Border in general, is considered an extremely porous part of our nation's periphery. Unfortunately, the growing volume of commercial and pedestrian traffic that plays an integral role in our nation's economy creates an infinite number of opportunities for drug trafficking organizations to introduce their illegal goods into the commerce of the United States. Illegal drugs are hidden in all modes of conveyances, including the compartments of cars and trucks, and the bodies and baggage of pedestrians. Some organizations may employ couriers who cross the desert in armed pack trains, or who act as human "mules" by strapping the drugs onto their bodies. The means by which illegal drugs enter the United States range from extremely sophisticated concealment methods to simply tossing the drug laden package over border fences to be whisked away on foot or by vehicle. Drug trafficking organizations also utilize boats and ships to position their stash of drugs close to the border for eventual transfer to the United States. Illicit drugs are smuggled in record levels into the United States via the U.S./Mexico border. Over the past few years, Mexican based trafficking organizations have succeeded in establishing themselves as the preeminent poly-drug traffickers of the world, using our shared border to smuggle illicit drugs into the United States. These organizations present an increasing threat to the national security of this country, with voluminous amount of drugs, violent crime, and the associated corruption of public officials in Mexico. Mexico is the largest transshipment point of South American cocaine destined for the United States, and 65% of this cocaine reaches American cities via the U.S./Mexico border. Mexico also remains a major source country for heroin and marijuana, and many of these Mexican based trafficking organizations are utilized by Colombian Cartels to transship drugs destined for the United States. Assessing the Threat: The Role of the U.S./Mexico Border in the Drug Trade The drug threat presented by the U.S./Mexico Border is fairly consistent with the national drug threat, and to a certain extent, defines the overall drug threat against our nation. Clearly, the most distinguishable threat is the transformation and emergence of Mexican based trafficking organizations, whose activities now reach the highest echelons of the cocaine trade. Previously limited to marijuana and Mexican heroin smuggling, Mexican based groups have expanded and profited by maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship with Colombian based traffickers. These recent trends illustrate the vulnerability of the California/Mexico Border to Colombian and Mexican based trafficking organizations intent on introducing drugs into the United States market:
Cocaine Trafficking across the U.S./Mexico Border Through the 1980's, most of the cocaine that entered the United States did so through the Caribbean and South Florida. Increased enforcement and interdiction efforts, however, forced traffickers to shift the majority of their smuggling operations to Mexico, a move that led DEA and other Federal agencies to mobilize along the U.S./Mexico Border. According to a recent interagency intelligence assessment, approximately 65 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the United States in 2000 crossed the U.S./Mexico Border. Colombian-based organizations rely on Mexican-based groups in locations such as Guadalajara, Juárez, Matamoros, Sinaloa, and Tijuana to convey their cocaine into the United States. Mexican trafficking organizations have established themselves as transportation specialists for smuggling drugs across the U.S./Mexico Border. Frequently, these trafficking organizations are comprised of poly-drug smugglers who transport marijuana, methamphetamine, and heroin in addition to cocaine. Over the past decade, Colombian-based drug lords and Mexican-based trafficking organizations have entered into a symbiotic relationship that has resulted in the Mexican- based traffickers playing an increasing role in the cocaine trade. Under this arrangement, Mexican-based traffickers often receive shipments of cocaine directly from Colombian- based organizations, and contract with the source to deliver a portion of the shipment to a contact of the Colombian-based network operating in the United States. The Mexican- based traffickers are allowed to keep the balance of the cocaine shipment as payment for their services and transport the shipment to Mexican-controlled wholesale distribution networks that principally operate in the Western United States. By the mid-1990's, Mexican-based transportation groups were receiving as payment up to one-half of each cocaine shipment they smuggled into the United States on behalf of the Colombian-based traffickers. By relinquishing a portion of the cocaine destined for the U.S. market to Mexican-based drug organizations, as opposed to attempting to unilaterally control every aspect of importation and distribution, Colombian-based drug lords radically changed the role and sphere of influence of Mexican based trafficking organizations in the cocaine trade. In doing so, the Colombian-based traffickers have minimized their risk of exposure to U.S. law enforcement authorities, and provided Mexican-based traffickers with a valuable source of revenue and domestic customers. As a consequence of this development, traffickers operating from Mexico now control a substantial proportion of wholesale cocaine distribution throughout the Western and Midwestern United States. Distribution of multi-ton quantities of cocaine once dominated by the Colombian-based drug traffickers is now controlled by trafficking groups from Mexico in cities such as Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle. In addition to cocaine transportation, some drug trafficking groups operating from Mexico appear to offer a range of services, including wholesale cocaine distribution and money laundering for Colombian clients, and direct delivery to wholesale-level customers on behalf of the major Colombian based cocaine groups. Routes and General Methods Over the past two decades, cocaine was moved primarily by air and land into Mexico from Colombia. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, traffickers used large commercial aircraft, such as 727's and 737's, to move cocaine from South America to Mexico. Currently, maritime vessels are the most frequent method used to transport bulk shipments of cocaine to Mexico for ultimate distribution in the United States. Colombian-based traffickers utilize fishing vessels to move cocaine usually to the West Coast of Mexico, and, to a lesser extent, the Yucatan peninsula. The cocaine is then off-loaded to "go-fast" watercraft for final delivery to shore. Once secured on land, the drug shipments are consolidated for overland movement to the U.S./Mexico Border. Traffickers continue to use trucking routes through Central America and Mexico to the U.S./Mexico Border. Cocaine shipments transported through Mexico or Central America are generally moved overland to staging sites in or near northern Mexico, although intelligence suggests that small aircraft may play a role in moving some cocaine to the border area. At these staging sites, the cocaine is broken down into smaller loads for smuggling across the U.S./Mexico border. Three of the four primary cocaine importation points within the United States are located along the U.S./Mexico Border in Arizona, Southern California, and Texas. Cross-border cocaine shipments generally are smuggled across the U.S./Mexico border in concealed compartments within cars, trucks, and recreation vehicles, or commingled with legitimate tractor-trailer cargo. Typically, the land vehicles are driven across the U.S./Mexico Border, and then either left in parking lots for subsequent pick-up, or driven directly to storage sites in the United States. Using this method, traffickers are able to shroud their illegal activities in the tremendous numbers of people and vehicles crossing the U.S./Mexico Border. These cocaine shipments typically consist of 20 to 50 kilogram loads secreted in concealed compartments that are primarily located under floorboards and/or in gas tanks of passenger cars, pickup trucks, and vans. Larger quantities, however, have also been seized. For example, in October, 2001,109 kilograms of cocaine were seized at a U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas. The cocaine was found inside boxes onboard a tractor-trailer, commingled with a shipment of tee shirts. Cocaine also is carried across the U.S.-Mexico border by couriers known as mules, who cross into the United States either legally through U.S./Mexico Border ports of entry, or illegally through undesignated points along the border. The couriers typically carry small, kilogram quantities of cocaine, thus minimizing the losses incurred by the courier's controller in the event of robbery, theft, or law enforcement intervention. Heroin Trafficking across the U.S./Mexico Border The U.S./Mexico Border is a significant transit point to the U.S. heroin market, not only for the Mexican black tar and brown heroin that dominate the markets west of the Mississippi River, but increasingly for South American heroin destined for the primary markets in the Northeast. Moreover, Nigerian and Southeast Asia based traffickers have been known to move opiate/heroin products across the U.S./Mexico Border. Mexican Heroin Mexican Black tar and brown heroin has been a threat to the United States for decades. It is produced, smuggled, and distributed by poly-drug trafficking groups, many of which have been in operation for more than 20 years. Mexican based heroin distributors operating within the United States have historically been Mexican nationals with familial and/or geographical ties to the States of Durango, Michoacan, Nuevo Leon, and Sinoloa. Mexican heroin primarily is smuggled overland and across the U.S./Mexico Border. Traffickers take advantage of easy border access and store bulk quantities of heroin in Mexico, where the perceived risk of discovery and seizure is low. When a transaction is arranged, the contracted amount, usually 1 to 2 kilograms, is smuggled into the United States, frequently by illegal aliens and migrant workers. By keeping quantities small, traffickers hope to minimize the risk of losing a significant quantity of heroin in a single seizure. Even large poly-drug Mexican organizations, which smuggle multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana, generally limit smuggling of Mexican heroin into the United States to kilogram and smaller amounts. Nevertheless, trafficking organizations employing this "piecemeal" strategy are capable of regularly smuggling significant quantities of heroin into the United States. Recent intelligence indicates that some heroin traffickers are smuggling 5 to 30 kilograms of Mexican heroin in tar and powder form from the interior of Mexico, representing a departure from the previous practice of Mexican based traffickers, who smuggled heroin into the United States in 1-2 kilogram amounts. Once heroin is smuggled into the United States, transportation is arranged to metropolitan areas in the western and southwestern states with sizeable Hispanic populations. Mexican heroin has also been transported to primary markets in Chicago, Denver, and St. Louis. Periodically, Mexican traffickers have attempted to find markets for black tar heroin in East Coast cities such as Boston and Atlanta. However, this effort at market expansion has, for the most part, met with failure. Although recent DEA cases have involved Mexican black tar heroin trafficking groups operating east of the Mississippi River, there has been no successful, long-term penetration of the East Coast heroin market by organizations selling Mexican-produced heroin. South American Heroin The availability of South American heroin, produced almost exclusively in Colombia, has increased dramatically in the Eastern United States since 1993. Despite having relatively limited production capacity and relying on unsophisticated smuggling techniques, traffickers of South American heroin have had a substantial impact on the U.S. market. The traffic of South American heroin has been characterized by the production of modest quantities of the drug in small laboratories in Colombia, the smuggling of heroin in quantities of 500 grams to 1 kilogram by numerous couriers aboard commercial airlines, and distribution of the drug through traditional retail outlets in northeastern cities, primarily New York City, Newark, Boston, and Philadelphia. In response to increased drug law enforcement presence at eastern ports of entry, some South American based heroin traffickers have sought out alternative routes. Recent seizures in 2000 and 2001 reflect an increasing use of Mexico to smuggle South American heroin into the United States. In February 2001, for example, two separate seizures of South American heroin, totaling 4.9 kilograms, were made at the airport in Tijuana, Mexico. Methamphetamine Trafficking across the U.S./Mexico Border Over the last decade, the methamphetamine trafficking and abuse situation in the United States changed dramatically. In the mid-1990s, methamphetamine trafficking and abuse increased in the United States, primarily in the West and Midwest. In 1997, this trend started to spread, to a lesser extent, to the Southeast. The entry of Mexico-based trafficking organizations into the methamphetamine trade contributed to this resurgence. Historically, outlaw motorcycle gangs and many independent dealers dominated methamphetamine manufacturing and trafficking. The entree of Mexican traffickers into the methamphetamine production and distribution trade in the early 1990's resulted in a significant increase in high-purity supplies of the drug. Although independent trafficking groups continue to produce methamphetamine, in 1994 Mexican drug trafficking organizations operating in California and Mexico began to take control of the production and distribution of methamphetamine in the United States. What was once controlled by independent, regionalized outlaw motorcycle gangs was taken over by major Mexican organizations and independent operators based in Mexico and California. Mexican trafficking organizations now dominate wholesale methamphetamine trafficking, using large-scale laboratories based in Mexico and the western and southwestern United States. Outlaw motorcycle gangs are still active in methamphetamine production, but do not produce the large quantities that are distributed by Mexican groups. In the early to mid-1990s, Mexican organizations had ready access to precursor chemicals on the international market. These chemicals had fewer controls in Mexico and overseas than in the United States. The Mexican national organizations further developed existing international connections with chemical suppliers in Europe, Asia, and the Far East, and were able to obtain ton quantities of the necessary precursor chemicals, specifically bulk ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. From their experience in the trafficking of cocaine, heroin and marijuana, the Mexican organizations already had well-established transportation routes. Initially offering inexpensive, high-purity methamphetamine, the Mexican organizations ultimately gained a foothold in the existing United States market and expanded their operations. Since they produced their own drug, they maintained greater control of the methamphetamine market and reaped greater profits than with the distribution of other drugs. It should be noted that high-purity methamphetamine produced by the Mexican groups, in combination with the marketing strategy of providing free samples, created new population of addicts. Until 1999, the methamphetamine problem was increasing at an alarming rate. Domestic and international chemical control efforts, including increased scrutiny of imports and domestic registrants who handle List I chemicals, have reduced the supply of those chemicals needed to produce high-quality methamphetamine. As a result, the national purity level for methamphetamine, as well as amphetamine, has gone down dramatically. The average purity of methamphetamine exhibits seized by DEA dropped from 71.9 percent in 1994 to 30.7 percent in 1999, rising slightly to 34.6 percent in 2000. Emergency room mentions and overdose deaths involving methamphetamine show a corresponding decrease. With the success of efforts to control the flow of bulk ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, through initiatives stemming from bilateral and multilateral meetings and the "letter of non-objection program" for List I chemical imports from certain critical countries, Mexican traffickers turned to tableted forms of the precursors in the U.S. In 1997 and 1998, the vast majority of methamphetamine laboratories operated by Mexican organizations that were seized in California obtained their precursor chemicals from sources in the United States. The Mexican organizations obtained their precursors from chemical wholesalers, rogue chemical companies, and back door/blackmarket sales of large quantities of ephedrine/pseudoephedrine tablets from unscrupulous retail and convenience store operators. Some of those operators have been targeted through initiatives such as Operation Mountain Express, a DEA-led effort described below. The HIDTA-funded National Methamphetamine Chemical Initiative promotes cooperation and coordination of cases between the myriad enforcement authorities involved. A disturbing trend is the use of Canada, which does not have a chemical control law, to evade applicable regulatory systems in place in both the United States and Mexico. Marijuana Trafficking across the U.S./Mexico Border Drug trafficking organizations operating from Mexico have smuggled marijuana into the United States for over 20 years and are responsible for supplying most of the foreign marijuana available in the United States. Virtually all the marijuana smuggled into the United States, whether grown in Mexico or shipped through Mexico from lesser sources such as Central America, is smuggled across the U.S./Mexico Border. Drug trafficking organizations employ a wide range of methods to transport the marijuana. The most common method is to smuggle marijuana in bulk quantities by truck and smaller quantities in vehicle tires, fuel tanks, seats, or false compartments. Traffickers use various vehicles to cross POEs: commercial vehicles, private automobiles, pickup trucks, vans, mobile homes, and horse trailers. Marijuana also is hidden inside agricultural products, and is smuggled across the border by horse, raft, and backpack. There are also sporadic reports of marijuana being smuggled via private aircraft; however, field offices do not consider border crossings by air to be a significant threat. They do report that private aircraft are used to smuggle marijuana up to the border on the Mexico side where large quantities of marijuana are stockpiled. The primary routes for moving marijuana into the United States, however, remain the overland routes. MDMA Trafficking across the U.S./Mexico Border In the future, Mexico may increasingly be used as a transit zone for MDMA entering the United States. In the year 2000, several seizures of MDMA en route or in Mexico were reported. For example, in September 2000, Dutch authorities seized a 1.25 million-tablet shipment of MDMA destined for Mexico. On November 20, 2000, approximately 64,000 Ecstasy pills were seized at the Mexico City Airport. Confronting the Threat: A Balanced Response Given the expanse of the California/Mexico Border, it is clear that no single agency can "control" the border or completely filter illegal drugs from the massive quantities of legitimate commercial cargo that flow across our borders each day. Accordingly, DEA continues to implement a balanced approach to confronting the drug threat posed by the criminal organizations exploiting our Border. The elements of this approach range from capitalizing on the latest advances in telecommunications technology, to our adhering to basic, time-honored principles of interagency cooperation. As evidenced by the following program descriptions, DEA is continuously working to generate innovative enforcement initiatives that will serve to immobilize the most sophisticated international drug trafficking organizations operating today. DEA's strategic approach to targeting major drug trafficking organizations is to initiate and pursue high impact, intelligence-driven, multi-agency, multi-jurisdiction/multi-nation investigations that employ a combination of intelligence, investigative technology support, and the coordinated efforts of DEA and its federal, state, local and foreign law enforcement counterparts. By strategically and comprehensively targeting international command and control centers of drug syndicates based overseas in conjunction with their domestic entry and transshipment routes and local distribution points, DEA has been able to dismantle drug organizations in virtually all arenas. This approach requires DEA's foreign and domestic enforcement, intelligence, and technology elements to work collectively to transform isolated investigations into large-scale, multi-agency, multi-jurisdiction/multi-nation investigations. Southwest Border Initiative One of DEA's primary functions is to coordinate the many drug investigations taking place along America' roughly 2,000-mile border with Mexico, an effort that involves literally thousands of federal, state and local law enforcement officers. The "Southwest Border Initiative" is a comprehensive approach to meet this challenge and is an enforcement priority for the San Diego Field Division. As the threat from Mexican- based poly-drug trafficking organizations continues to escalate, the workload steadily increases. Much of this increased workload is due to expansion by Mexican-based traffickers into new geographic regions of the U.S., particularly the Midwest. Mexican- based traffickers have become the world's preeminent drug traffickers, and their organizations are generally complex in nature and characterized by a high propensity for violence. To counter this threat, federal drug law enforcement has aggressively pursued drug trafficking along the U.S./Mexico border. Through a cooperative and coordinated enforcement effort, DEA, the FBI, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Attorney's Office, U.S. Customs Service, and state and local law enforcement agencies have worked together to reduce the amount of illicit drugs entering the United States through the U.S./Mexico Border. The Southwest Border Initiative is intended to counter drug activity by identifying, penetrating, disrupting, and dismantling the major Mexican and Colombian- based drug trafficking organizations using the border to smuggle illegal drugs into the United States. The strategy is to attack major Mexican-based trafficking organizations on both sides of the border simultaneously, employing enhanced intelligence and enforcement initiatives, and cooperative efforts with the Government of Mexico. The San Diego Field Division is aggressively involved in every aspect of this Initiative. One of the principal examples of the San Diego Field Division's cooperative efforts is the Narcotic Task Force (NTF). The NTF investigates local/ impact violent crime groups and mid-level distributors. This DEA funded Task Force is now in its 27th year. The goal of the NTF is to provide San Diego County with coverage of narcotic enforcement expertise and to promote cooperation between law enforcement agencies. This is accomplished through an active officer exchange program and is enhanced by the diverse countywide agency membership in the NTF. As indicated by the cases below, the Southwest Border Initiative has built a record of success in targeting, immobilizing, and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations. Most of these investigations directly impacted the San Diego, California area. Operation Green Air (Marijuana) was a multi-jurisdictional investigation targeting a Mexican/Jamaican marijuana smuggling and distribution organization with ties to Traditional Organized Crime. The organization smuggled multi-thousand pound quantities of marijuana by trucks and other conveyances from Mexico through U.S. Ports of Entry in Southern California to warehouses in the greater Los Angeles area. Several corrupt warehouse employees shipped the marijuana via Federal Express to distribution cells on the East Coast. Operation Green Air culminated in April 2000 with a nationwide takedown that resulted in the seizure of more than 15.25 tons of marijuana, $4,546,384 in U.S. currency, and the arrest of 106 individuals. Operation Impunity II (Cocaine) was a multi-jurisdictional investigation targeting a Mexican drug trafficking organization responsible for the transportation and distribution of multi-hundred kilogram shipments of cocaine from Mexico to cities throughout the United States. This investigation targeted remnants of the Carrillo-Fuentes Organization and the Gulf Cartel Organization. Operation Impunity II culminated in December 2000 with a nationwide takedown that produced the seizure of 5,266 kilograms of cocaine, 9,325 pounds of marijuana, $9,663,265 in U.S. currency/assets, and the arrest of 141 individuals. Operation Tar Pit (Heroin) was a multi-jurisdictional investigation targeting a Mexican heroin transportation and trafficking organization based in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico. Primarily, this organization imported multi-kilogram quantities of black tar heroin from Mexico into the United States. The heroin was transported to the greater Los Angeles area and distributed to organization cell heads throughout the U.S., including San Diego, CA; Bakersfield, CA; Honolulu, HI; Portland, OR; Denver, CO; Cleveland, OH; Columbus, OH; Pittsburgh, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Yuma, AZ; Albuquerque, NM; and Charleston, WV. In June 2000, a multi-nation takedown was conducted against Operation Tar Pit targets that included the principal Mexican command and control members in Mexico, U.S. based cell heads, workers for each cell, and couriers. This investigation culminated in the seizure of 64 pounds of black tar heroin, 10 weapons, $304,450 in U.S. currency, and the arrest of 249 individuals. Operation Mountain Express (Pseudoephedrine) was a DEA operation that targeted traffickers of the methamphetamine precursor pseudoephedrine. Existing regulations allowed DEA registrants to obtain multi-ton quantities of tablet pseudoephedrine from gray-market importers. California-based Mexican production organizations took advantage of this fact by purchasing ton quantities of pseudoephedrine for use in methamphetamine production. Since January 2000, several multi-jurisdictional investigations targeting pseudoephedrine traffickers have been conducted. The illicit trafficking of pseudoephedrine was traced from bulk importers to rogue wholesalers and distributors and eventually to pseudoephedrine extraction laboratories. Operation Mountain Express resulted in the arrest of 189 individuals and the seizure of more than 12.5 tons of pseudoephedrine, 83 pounds of finished methamphetamine, $11,100,000 in U.S. currency, and real property in excess of $1,000,000. Operation Gas Mask (Precursor Chemicals) is a recently completed investigation targeting a California based supplier of HCL gas to Mexican national methamphetamine production organizations. This investigation resulted in the seizure of 10 operational methamphetamine Super Labs, 5 pseudoephedrine extraction labs, 497 gallons of methamphetamine in solution, 140 pound of finished methamphetamine, and assets totaling $1.5 million. Additionally, Operation Gas Mask resulted in the arrest of 48 individuals including Mexican National laboratory operators, chemical brokers, the California based supplier of HCL gas and two suppliers of solvents and reagents. Eduviko Garcia Organization (Mexican Methamphetamine). Recently, DEA concluded an investigation which targeted the Eduviko Garcia methamphetamine organization. Garcia received methamphetamine through a Nuevo Laredo, Mexico-based facilitator who in turn received methamphetamine from a variety of Mexican based sources. Methamphetamine seized in the Garcia investigation has been tied to Francisco Zarragoza, a methamphetamine source based in Guadalajara, Mexico. The Garcia investigation resulted in enforcement actions in the states of Texas, Indiana, Washington, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Kansas and Kentucky and resulted in the seizure of 53 pounds of methamphetamine, 18 kilograms of cocaine, and the arrest of 50 individuals. Other Enforcement Operations Highway interdiction is central to drug enforcement since a vast number of seizures occur at checkpoint stops within 150 miles of the border in California. In addition to their drug and money seizures, state, local, and federal agencies generate valuable intelligence on trafficking patterns, concealment methods, and cell membership and structure. Presently, there are drug interdiction programs promoted and monitored by the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), but carried out by state and local law enforcement officials. The operations are carried out along the highways and interstates most often used by trafficking organizations to move illegal drugs north and east, and illicit money south and west. With DEA support, state and local highway officers are able to execute controlled deliveries of the drug shipments that they seize, thereby expanding the scope of their own investigations. These programs consist of three elements: training, real-time communication, and analytical support. With support from EPIC, training schools in support of these programs are designed and delivered to state and local highway officers across the nation. The training and implementation of these programs are conducted in accordance with the Attorney General's guidelines for Fairness in Law Enforcement, and prohibit the use of race, ethnicity or nationality as the sole basis for initiating law enforcement interdiction of suspected drug traffickers. Intelligence Operations The intelligence collection process is critical to the interdiction of drugs. Each time we dismantle an organization, DEA gains vital intelligence about the organization to use, both to further additional investigative efforts, and to increase the accuracy of intelligence information provided to the interdiction operations conducted by other law enforcement agencies. The domestic and international aspects of trafficking organizations are inextricably woven together. U.S. law enforcement must be able to successfully attack the command and control functions of these international drug trafficking syndicates on all fronts if ultimate success in diminishing the operational effectiveness of these organizations is to be achieved. Collocation of Law Enforcement Assets In addition to conducting numerous joint investigations with the United States Customs Service (USCS), DEA is working to optimize the operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness of U.S./Mexico Border operations conducted with other DOJ components, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The conference report language for the FY 2001 Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary Appropriation Bill states that "DEA is also directed to better coordinate its operations with other Federal Agencies, including INS and FBI, along the U.S./Mexico Border, and to pursue co-location of offices wherever practical." A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been drafted and is currently pending endorsement by administrative program managers from DEA, FBI, and INS. By adhering to the provisions of this MOU, the enforcement components of the Justice Department will coordinate the review of their respective facility lease terms, and determine compatible opportunities for collocation. Conclusion Drug trafficking organizations operating along the California/Mexico Border, which are controlled by Mexican-based kingpins, continue to be a great concern to communities in California and the nation. As a result of their alliances with Colombian organizations, Mexico-based drug trafficking organizations increasingly have become organized, specialized and efficient, with individual components steadily consolidating power and control over well-defined areas of responsibility and geographic strongholds. The power and influence of these organizations is pervasive, and continues to expand to new markets across the United States. The DEA is deeply committed to intensifying our efforts to identify, target, arrest and incapacitate the leadership of these criminal drug trafficking organizations. The combined investigations of DEA, FBI, the U.S. Customs Service and members of other federal, state, and local police departments continue to result in the seizure of hundreds of tons of drugs, hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds, and the indictments of significant drug traffickers, and the dismantling of the command and control elements of their organizations. Cooperative investigations will continue to send a strong message to all drug traffickers that the U.S. law enforcement communities will not sit idle as these organizations threaten the welfare of our citizens and the security of our towns and cities. The principal leaders of major drug trafficking organizations fear the threat of extradition to the United States more than any other law enforcement or judicial tool. Extradition of significant traffickers ensures that those responsible for the command and control of illicit activities, including drug smuggling and money laundering, will be held totally accountable for their actions and serve a prison sentence commensurate with their crimes. In Mexico, the newly installed Fox Administration has given every indication of their intention to work as equal partners with American drug law enforcement, and we look forward to our future endeavors with optimism. Hopefully, these new endeavors will include the successful extradition of major Mexican-based traffickers to the United States. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the Subcommittee today. I would be happy to answer any questions that you or other members of the Subcommittee may have at the appropriate time. |
