|
|
 
IV. A Comprehensive Approach
6. Shielding U.S. Borders from the Drug Threat
Borders delineate the sovereign territories of nation-states. Borders and
ports of entry are the entrance and exit points for all conveyances, goods, and
persons entering or departing a country. Controlling borders and ports of entry
is vital in order to ensure the rule of law and prevent the flow of contraband
-- including illegal drugs. All our borders, seaports, and airports are
vulnerable to the drug threat. Puerto Rico; the U.S. Virgin Islands; South
Florida; the Southwest border; gateway airports in Chicago, Honolulu, Miami, New
York, and Seattle; seaports along the Atlantic Seaboard, the Gulf of Mexico, and
the Pacific coast; the Great Lakes region; and the land border with Canada have
all experienced problems with drug trafficking. By curtailing the flow of drugs
across our borders, we reduce drug availability throughout the United States and
greatly reduce the consequences of drug abuse and trafficking in our
communities. Drug smuggling is an intolerable affront to the nation's
well-being. Countering it is a function that must be performed by federal,
state, and local law-enforcement agencies.
We must stop drugs everywhere they enter the United States, be it through the
Gulf Coast, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Florida, the northeastern and
northwestern United States, or the Great Lakes region. Neither will we ignore
the vulnerability of Alaska, Hawaii, or the U.S. Territories. Florida's
location, geography, and dynamic growth will continue to make the state
particularly vulnerable to traffickers for the foreseeable future. Florida's
six-hundred miles of coastline rendered it a major target for shore and air-drop
deliveries in the 1980s. The state is located astride Caribbean and Gulf of
Mexico trafficking routes. The busy Miami and Orlando airports and Florida's
seaports -- gateways to drug-source countries in South America -- are used as
distribution hubs by international trafficking organizations. To varying
degrees, Florida's predicament is shared by other border areas and entry points.
As we focus efforts on specific parts of our borders, we must anticipate
activities elsewhere. In the end, we need to shield the entire border from the
flow of illegal drugs into the United States.
The U.S. Customs Service has primary responsibility for ensuring that all
movements of cargo and passengers through ports of entry comply with federal
law. Customs is the lead agency for preventing drug trafficking through
airports, seaports, and land ports of entry. Customs is also responsible for
stemming the flow of illegal drugs into the United States through the air. It
accomplishes this task by detecting and apprehending drug smuggling aircraft
entering the country. Customs' Aviation Interdiction program conducts
twenty-four-hour surveillance along the entire southern tier of the United
States, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean using a wide variety of civilian and
military ground-based radar, tethered aerostats, reconnaissance aircraft, and
other sensors. Customs' drug seizures along the Southwest border in the first
half of 1998 increased by 45 percent as a result of Operation Brass Ring.
The U.S. Border Patrol is the primary federal drug interdiction agency along
our land borders with Canada and Mexico. The Border Patrol specifically focuses
on drug smuggling between land ports of entry.
The Coast Guard is the lead federal agency for maritime drug interdiction and
shares lead responsibility for air interdiction with the U.S. Customs Service.
Our Armed Forces provide invaluable support to federal, state, and local law
enforcement agencies, involved in drug-control operations, particularly in the
Southwest Border region.
All of these agencies and their personnel deserve great credit for unending
efforts to defeat drug smugglers. The task of strategy is to coordinate
activities in a coherent way so that individual efforts contribute to the
overall objective of reducing drug availability in the United States.
Trafficking Across the Southwest Border
In 1998, 278 million people, 86 million cars, and four million trucks and
rail cars entered the United States from Mexico. More than half of the cocaine
on our streets and large quantities of heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine
enter the United States across the Southwest border. Illegal drugs enter by all
modes of conveyance -- car, truck, train, and pedestrian border-crossers. They
cross the open desert in armed pack trains as well as on the backs of human
"mules." They are tossed over border fences and then whisked away on foot or by
vehicle. Planes and boats find gaps in U.S./Mexican coverage and position drugs
close to the border for eventual transfer to the United States. Small boats in
the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern Pacific seek to outflank our interdiction
efforts and deliver drugs directly to the United States. Whenever possible,
traffickers try to exploit incidences of corruption in U.S. local, state, and
federal border agencies to facilitate drug smuggling. It is a tribute to the
vast majority of U.S. officials dedicated to the anti-drug effort that
integrity, courage, and respect for human rights overwhelmingly characterize
their service. Rapidly growing commerce between the United States and Mexico
will complicate our efforts to keep drugs out of cross-border traffic. Since the
Southwest border is presently the most porous part of the nation's borders, it
is there that we must mount a determined coordinated effort to stop the flow of
drugs. At the same time, we cannot concentrate resources along the Southwest
border at the expense of other vulnerable border regions, for traffickers follow
the path of least resistance and will funnel the flow of drugs to less defended
areas.
Organizing for Success
The problems our law enforcement officials face in stemming the flow of drugs
into the United States are significant but not insurmountable. Twenty-three
separate federal agencies and scores of state and local governments are involved
in drug-control efforts along our borders, air, and seaports. Improved
coordination can ensure unity of effort from national policy to state and local
levels with case-centered criminal investigations. The departments of Justice
and Treasury and other agencies with responsibilities along the Southwest border
continue to enhance their collective capabilities in this vulnerable region.
Timely dissemination of information can allow agencies to target trafficking
organizations moreeffectively. An ongoing review of the counterdrug intelligence
system is addressing this requirement.
All cross-border movements are subject to inspection. We cannot, however,
paralyze commerce and travel to search for contraband. Non-intrusive inspection
technologies that are cued to high-risk cargo by intelligence are being deployed
to keep drugs out of legal commerce. Access roads, fences, lights, and
surveillance devices can prevent the movement of drugs between ports of entry
while serving the legal, economic, and immigration concerns of the United
States, Canada, and Mexico. We must continue to make appropriate staffing
investments to ensure adequate numbers of trained and well-equipped inspectors,
agents, investigators, and prosecutors. Last year, for example, the Border
Patrol hired a thousand additional agents. We must ensure adequate staffing
resources throughout the entire border security system.
Border Coordination Initiative (BCI)
To improve coordination along the land borders of the United States, the
departments of Justice and Treasury, along with other agencies with border
responsibilities, established the Border Coordination initiative (BCI).
Organized as a five-year program and initially emphasizing the Southwest border,
BCI envisions the creation of an integrated border management system that
improves the effectiveness of the joint effort. It emphasizes increased
cooperation efforts supporting the interdiction of drugs, illegal aliens, and
other contraband, while maintaining the flow of legal immigration and commerce.
BCI implementation plans call for:
Port Management. A Customs and INS Port Management Model that
will streamline enforcement, traffic management, and community partnership plans
at each of the SWB's twenty-four POEs.
Investigations. A unified strategy for SWB seizures that
capitalizes on investigative enforcement operations at and between POEs and the
dissemination of investigative intelligence to enhance inspections.
Intelligence. Joint intelligence teams staffed with personnel
from Customs and INS with enhanced local intelligence collection and
intelligence products focused on drug interdiction, illegal aliens, currency and
document fraud.
Technology. A joint technology plan to capitalize on future
technology advances while making better use of existing capabilities.
Communications. Inter-operable, secure, mutually supportive,
wireless communications through coordinated fielding, joint user training,
compatible systems, and shared frequencies.
Aviation and Marine. Joint air interdiction operations and the
identification of opportunities to share air and marine support facilities.
Port and Border Security Initiative
This initiative seeks to reduce drug availability by preventing the entry of
illegal substances into the United States. The initiative covers all U.S.
ports-of-entry and borders but focuses on the Southwest border. Over the next
five years, this initiative will result in appropriate investments in
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) inspectors and Border Patrol
agents, Customs' agents, analytic, and inspection staff, improved communication
and coordination between Customs and INS, employment of advanced technologies
and information management systems, and greater U.S.-Mexico cooperation.
Working With the Private Sector to Keep Drugs Out of
America
Agreements with the private sector can deter drug smuggling via legitimate
commercial shipments and conveyances. As the primary drug-interdiction agency at
ports of entry, the U.S. Customs Service is implementing innovative programs
like the air, sea, and land Carrier Initiative Programs (CIP), the Business
Anti-Smuggling Coalition (BASC), and the Americas Counter-Smuggling Initiative
(ACSI) to keep illegal drugs out of licit commerce. These initiatives have
resulted in the seizure of 168,000 pounds of drugs since 1995.
Harnessing Technology
Technology is an essential component in the effort to prevent drug smuggling
across our borders and via passenger and commercial transportation systems.
Technology can help stop drugs while facilitating legal commerce. Automated
targeting systems can analyze databases to assess the likelihood that a
particular individual, vehicle, or container is carrying drugs. Non-intrusive
inspection devices can detect drugs; X-ray systems inspect the inside of cars,
trucks, or containers while high energy neutron interrogation systems measure
the density of tires, fuel tanks, panels, and cargo. Technology can also prevent
trafficking in unoccupied spaces. The Immigration and Naturalization Service's
Integrated Surveillance Information System/Remote Video Surveillance (ISIS/RVS)
project, for example, is improving the Border Patrol's effectiveness between
ports of entries along the Southwest border. This initiative will increase
inspection capabilities at all vulnerable ports of entry.
Review of Counterdrug Intelligence Architecture
Drug intelligence and information collection, analysis, and dissemination are
essential for effective drug control. An extensive interagency review of
counterdrug intelligence activities was conducted during 1998 under the auspices
of the secretaries of Defense, State, Transportation, and Treasury, the Attorney
General, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Director of National Drug
Control Policy. The review suggested how federal, state, and local drug-control
efforts could be better supported by drug intelligence and law-enforcement
information. An interagency plan is being drafted based on this review.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment