Intelligence gathering strategies to combat Mexican drug cartels

Narcotics Intelligence

Transnational criminals and organization are active in many parts of the U.S. and they make use of illicit cross-border tunnels, parcel services and other means to unlawfully smuggle and distribute drugs and narcotic substances among the communities.

In addition to causing personal harm to individuals consuming drugs, the activities of the transnational drug cartels often lead to significant amount of violence and crime. These are aspects that are associated with drug trafficking and such consequences have the potential to affect the well-being of citizens as well as the fabric of institutions that govern the country.

There are several strategies to combat this menace and all the strategies depend on intelligence gathering, sharing and effective understanding of the information to execute effective actions.

Some of the strategies that are useful in combating the foreign drug cartels and their impact in the U.S. society include maximizing Federal support for drug law enforcement task forces, sharing and exchanging intelligence on transnational cartels, preventing the use of drug trafficking corridors, covert operations and eavesdropping for information and intelligence gathering and joint functioning of the Federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies. Border security and border intelligence is one of the other ways of preventing illegal drugs and narcotics from entering the U.S. Intelligence over the years has indicated that a significant amount of illegal money and arms are traded from the U.S. with the international drug cartels.

In this study we formulate an intelligence gathering strategy to help formulate an effective plan to stop a drug trafficking organization in Mexico from sending narcotic substances into the U.S.

The Intelligence Collection Strategy

Maximize Federal Support for Drug Law Enforcement Task Forces

It is important to stop the Mexican drug cartels from selling drugs in the U.S. This can be done through increased intelligence of the drug availability and distribution in localities and communities through intelligence gathering. Intelligence requires funding and actual work on the ground is essentially done by local dug law enforcement agencies and local bodies. Information gathering entails source funding as well as funding for operations, which require manpower and logistic support. In this aspect the Federal government should ensure adequate funds reach the local law enforcement agencies so that the process of information and intelligence collection runs unhampered. This intelligence gathering should be concentrated to known influence areas of the Mexican cartel's drug in the U.S. known as the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). In 2011, HIDTA funded missions managed to 2942 locally organized drug trafficking organizations in the U.S. and seizures of around $728,753,436 in cash and $210,428,628 in non-cash assets. The responsibility of local level information gathering should be conducted by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF).

Increase Intelligence of Tribal Authorities to Combat Trafficking on Tribal Lands

The HIDTA programs should be aimed at ensuring that more intelligence is got form the remote and sparsely populated areas about Mexican drug trafficking especially in the regions on the border with Mexico. The program can also be used to collaborate with and train tribal area residents. The HIDTA program has, for example, trained and equipped tribal law enforcement agencies in Arizona for intelligence gathering as well as prevention of drug trafficking. The OCDETF Fusion Center started a program called Indian Country Initiative in 2011 aimed to train and equip field agents and analysts operating in Indian Country in the generation of intelligence reports and intelligence collection.

Impede Surveillance Operations of Drug Trafficking Organizations

It is an established fact that the Mexican drug cartel employs significant resources and money into activities that are conducted to monitor the operations of the U.S. agencies engaged in anti-drug trafficking activities. A large number of strategically-placed spotters, for example, are reportedly placed along the Southwest border of U.S. by the drug trafficking organizations of Mexico whose primary job is to very closely observe and monitor the actions and activities of the enforcement agencies engaged in the national drug control strategy of CBP officers and agents. The spotters also watch the way the canines and the inspection at the border is done and the technology that is used to conduct the inspections.

The intelligence gathered by these spotters help and guides the Mexican drug cartel to strategize new modes and methods of entry into the U.S. The Mexican drug trafficker organizations also engaged in the u se of high end technology to inte5cept and eavesdrop on law enforcement communications. This is facilitated by the proximity of the drug cartels of the U.S. border.

The law enforcement agencies need to use and employ local intelligence to locate and apprehend spotters who play an important role in the smuggling of Mexican drugs into the U.S. Such intelligence should be gathered through collaboration with the local communities and through surveillance on ground and by air.

Intelligence Collection about Parcel Post

The Mexican drug cartels and the trafficking organizations are using new and ingenious methods to smuggle in drugs into the U.S. When border intelligence and the information surge from local sources prove effective in preventing the smuggling of drugs through the border in a physical manner, the drug trafficking organizations have been observed to be using the U.S. parcel post system to smuggle in drugs. The intelligence gathering strategy against the Mexican drug trafficking organizations should include effective intelligence gathering of the use of the national parcel shipping services. Apart from regular checking and monitoring of parcels, intelligence from local and courier sources should be generated. One of the ways is to compare postal data of parcels with a list of suspected drug delivery addresses.

Such intelligence can also be developed and gathered at the points where parcels leave for foreign countries of entry points of foreign couriers into the U.S. This intelligence gathering effort can be shared with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration. While such intelligence would prevent entry of narcotics from the Mexican drug cartels in to the U.S., it could also prevent illegal transfer of money through the parcel shipping system.

Increasing Intelligence Cooperation with Mexico

The prosperity and the stability of the U.S. and Mexico is interlinked and it emerges from the entwined culture and the common values between the two countries. As strategic partners in the fight against transnational drug trafficking, both the countries realize the importance of close cooperation. The collaboration against Mexico-based drug trafficking organizations should be based on the Merida Initiative and should critically include joint intelligence gathering and sharing.

The joint operations through close cooperation with Mexico can help both the countries significantly reduce the menace of drugs. The cooperation should include the following.

Joint Counterdrug Operations

The United States should strengthen their efforts at conducting joint operations with the Mexican agencies to disrupt, dismantle and reduce the impact of drug trafficking organizations. Intelligence plays a very important role in this aspect. All the above mentioned strategies and tactics of gathering intelligence are essentially limited to the U.S. side of the border. Anti-drug trafficking agencies cannot physically conduct long-term intelligence gathering in Mexico expect in very special cases. Therefore it is critical that the two countries share the intelligence that is gathered from both sides. The intelligence sharing can be made efficient by ensuring proper coordination of specialized intelligence centers such as EPIC, the OFC, SOD and the Narcotics and Transnational Crime Support Center.

From the U.S. point-of-view, intelligence gathered from Mexico can be critical to intercept and disrupt the flow of narcotics into the U.S. The U.S. should assist the Mexican intelligence gathering agencies with resources that include training, expertise, logistics and technology so that the intelligence gathering is efficient and accurate.

One of the best means to gain intelligence about activities of Mexican drug trafficking organizations is to penetrate the organizations through agency sources. This is risky business and often requires significant amounts of funding. Considering the treat from the Mexican drug trafficking organizations, the U.S. should arrange for and make available financial resources to the Mexican agencies to assist in this type of intelligence gathering as well.

Gathering Intelligence in Illegal Drug Transit Zone

The initial movement of illicit drugs is done by non-commercial maritime methods through the Western Hemisphere Transit Zone. There needs to be sufficient information and intelligence on this route of drug smuggling. Intelligence should target to identify the larger loads and consignments before they are dismantled into smaller loads.

Intelligence about Cartel Leadership

Intelligence collection should be aimed at acquiring as much information as possible about leadership of various Mexican drug cartels. Interrogation of criminals arrested in U.S. could result in linkage intelligence about the cartel leaderships. Intelligence should also be gathered about the vulnerabilities and soft points of the leadership. Similar efforts in Mexico can lead to combined critical information to intercept and arrest leaders of drug trafficking organizations in Mexico and hit the leadership to stop the cartels from functioning.

Change in Methods of Operation from DTO Perspective

From the perspective of the drug trafficking organizations, there are certain measures that can be taken to avoid the intelligence gathering measures of the anti-drug trafficking agencies in both countries.

The primary strategy that the Mexican drug cartels can adopt is to find new ways and means of smuggling of drugs across the Mexican U.S. border. Human traffickers can be used for this purpose along with the possibility of using animals also. Receivers on the U.S. side of the border should be activated to receive and carry forward the consignments.

More tunnels using sophisticated machinery can be dug to smuggle in to the drugs into U.S..

Spotters should be trained in not only better and effective observation and intelligence gathering, they should also be trained to avoid being detected. One of the counterintelligence measures that can be deployed by the drug cartels is to use concealing strategies for the spotters in accordance to the habits of the local communities where the spotters were to be placed. Training also should be given to avoid leaving trails so that their roots cannot be traced back.

The drug cartels should also strengthen their local contacts in the communities in the U.S. The drug trafficking organizations based in Mexico should, if possible, train the local operatives in the U.S. to leave no trail so that the cartels cannot be traced back even if the local contacts get arrested.

The cartels should disclose as little information about their leadership to the local level contacts and even within the gang as possible. This would reduce the risk of the leadership being identified and thus targeted.

The drug cartels have huge cache of money and finances with them. These can be used to place moles and informers of their own within various law enforcements agencies to understand and know about the agency's intelligence gathering techniques and measures. This would help the cartels to develop counter intelligence strategies of their own.

Better technology should be used by the drug cartels to better eavesdrop on the communications of the law enforcements agencies. The cartels should also try out cyber espionage to lay hands on important communications between various agencies. This tactic can also be sued to gain illegal access into government and agency law enforcement agency data bases and siphon off intelligence information.