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El Paso Intelligence Center

In 1974, the Department of Justice (DOJ) submitted a report entitled A Secure Border: An Analysis of Issues Affecting the U.S. Department of Justice to the Office of Management and Budget. The report provided recommendations on how to improve drug- and border-enforcement operations along the Southwest border. One of the recommendations proposed the establishment of a regional intelligence center to collect and disseminate information relating to drug, alien, and weapon smuggling in support of field enforcement entities throughout the region. In response to that study, the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) was created and was initially staffed by representatives of the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Customs Service, and U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Agencies currently represented at EPIC include the Drug Enforcement Administration; Department of Homeland Security; Customs & Border Protection; Immigration & Customs Enforcement; U.S. Coast Guard; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Secret Service; U.S. Marshals Service; National Drug Intelligence Center; Internal Revenue Service; U.S. Department of the Interior; National Geospatial–Intelligence Agency; U.S. Department of Defense; Joint Task Force–North; Joint Interagency Task Force–South; Texas Department of Public Safety; Texas Air National Guard; and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.

Initially, EPIC, as the facility became known, focused on the United States-Mexico border with an emphasis on Mexico's heroin traffickers and illegal alien smugglers. With the increased use of aircraft, seagoing vessels, and global networks to facilitate drug trafficking, EPIC's focus broadened and became international in scope. So not only does EPIC serve Federal agencies, all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Canada, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam, but also supports law enforcement efforts conducted by foreign counterparts throughout the world, and currently has Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with Canada, Australia, and The Netherlands. In response to increased multiagency needs, EPIC developed into a fully coordinated, tactical intelligence center supported by databases and resources from member agencies.

In 2001, immediately after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC, the multiagency environment of EPIC was called upon to support investigations to find those responsible. EPIC’s mission evolved from its experience in supporting interdiction efforts and investigations regarding drug trafficking, alien and weapon smuggling, and other criminal activities, by adding counterterrorism to its efforts.

EPIC’s vision is to continue to provide timely and expeditious support to Federal, State, local, tribal, and international law enforcement agencies and to remain the premier tactical operational intelligence center in the nation.