Homeland Security

DEA Official Outlines Drug Trafficking Effects Along Arizona/Mexico Border

(Describes border-area drug operations as a significant threat to
U.S.) (2200)
Drug trafficking organizations operating along the Arizona/Mexico
border pose "one of the greatest threats to communities" across the
United States, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is deeply
committed to dismantling these organizations, says James A. Woolley,
assistant special agent in charge of the DEA's Tucson District Office.
In March 10 testimony before the House Subcommittee on Criminal
Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources, Woolley outlined the DEA
Phoenix Division's efforts to identify, target and dismantle major
drug trafficking organizations operating within the state of Arizona
and to assist DEA officials outside of Arizona in their
investigations.
"Arizona has a unique role as both an importation and transportation
area on the Southwest Border and a metropolitan distribution center,"
Woolley said.
The DEA official indicated that cartels along the Arizona/Mexico
border employ "gatekeeper" smuggling operations that specialize in
getting drugs across the border. Once the drugs are smuggled across
the border, Woolley explained, they are taken to "stash houses" for
distribution in Tucson or Phoenix, or coastal or Midwest markets such
as Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.
To counter Mexico's complex and violent drug organizations, the DEA
collaborates with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to
aggressively pursue drug traffickers along the border.
"Our strategy is to attack major Mexican-based trafficking
organizations on both sides of the border, simultaneously, by
employing enhanced intelligence and enforcement initiatives and
cooperative efforts with the government of Mexico," Woolley said.
The El Paso Intelligence Center serves as the principal national
tactical intelligence center for drug law enforcement, he indicated.
Woolley told lawmakers that the center is staffed by personnel from
the DEA, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security
Administration and Secret Service, among other agencies, and has a
research and analysis section as well as a tactical operations section
to support foreign and domestic intelligence and operational needs in
the field.
The DEA also collaborates with other agencies through its
participation in the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA)
program, Woolley said. Sponsored by the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, the HIDTA programs work to reduce drug trafficking
activities in the most critical areas of the country, including the
Southwest Border HIDTAs in Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico,
West Texas and South Texas.
Woolley noted that the DEA is also participating in more than 210 task
forces with state and local agencies and maximizing the use of
technology to combat drug trafficking organizations.
Yet "the power and influence of these organizations is pervasive, and
continues to expand to new markets across the United States," he
warned. "The DEA is deeply committed to intensifying our efforts to
identify, target, arrest and dismantle the leadership of these
criminal drug trafficking organizations."
Following is the text of Woolley's prepared testimony before Congress:
(begin text)
DEA Congressional Testimony
March 10, 2003
Statement of
James A. Woolley
Assistant Special Agent in Charge
Tucson District Office
Drug Enforcement Administration
Before the
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Government Reform
Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources
Good morning, Chairman Souder and distinguished members of Congress. I
am pleased to have this opportunity to appear before you today to
discuss the role of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
regarding the impact of drug trade along the Arizona/Mexico border.
First off, Mr. Chairman, I would be remiss if I didn't preface my
remarks by thanking both you and the Subcommittee for your unwavering
support of the men and women of the Drug Enforcement Administration
and our mission. Your examination of drug trade on our borders
contributes to this work.
As a single mission component of the Department of Justice, the DEA is
the world's premier drug law enforcement agency. In addition to its
domestic presence, the DEA maintains over 400 personnel in 56
countries to support global investigations and drug intelligence
activities. DEA employees across the globe implement a policy of
inter-agency teamwork, which is the bedrock of our longstanding
tradition of cooperation.
It is important to remember that DEA is an investigative law
enforcement agency whose primary duty is to disrupt and dismantle the
world's most sophisticated drug distribution organizations. For us,
the interdiction of drugs is often the beginning of an investigation
rather than the end. DEA Phoenix Division is the lead federal agency
for enforcing the narcotics and controlled substance laws and
regulations within the state of Arizona. Our mission here is to
identify, target and dismantle major drug trafficking organizations
operating within the state of Arizona and to support other DEA offices
outside Arizona to further develop the investigations on their major
targets. The Phoenix Division investigative priorities are cocaine,
heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana, then other investigations.
Arizona has a unique role as both an importation and transportation
area on the Southwest Border and a metropolitan distribution center.
Arizona's various drug law enforcement efforts depend upon substantial
cooperation between the Federal agencies and state and local
jurisdictions to implement an effective overall enforcement program.
The collaboration of state and local task forces helps define
responsibilities and improves the focus of investigative efforts in
the law enforcement community.
Cartel leaders are combining their loads and working together to
smuggle their narcotics. We see this on the Texas and Southern
California borders with Mexico. The Sonoran/Arizona border has no
distinct cartel that controls the smuggling activity. However,
numerous Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (MDTOs) not seeking to
compete with specific cartel territories consider Sonora instead.
The unique character of the Sonoran/Arizona border creates an
important tier of "gatekeeper" organizations along this border with
corridors through Yuma, Lukeville, Nogales, Naco and Douglas. These
"gatekeepers" are smuggling organizations that specialize in
exploiting their areas for the sole purpose of getting drugs across
the border and into the Tucson or Phoenix areas. The "gatekeepers" are
characterized as generational local families extended across the
Sonoran/Arizona border communities. They have used these generational
ties to leverage even more corruption, create a transportation
infrastructure. They maintain an intelligence apparatus along the
border specifically targeting the Ports of Entry. These "Gatekeepers"
have constructed and maintained tunnel systems under the border,
engineered increasingly sophisticated vehicle traps, and they have
successfully co-oped (or simply stolen from) car rental companies to
supply rental sport utility vehicles for smuggling purposes.
Once the drugs are smuggled across the border they are taken to "stash
houses" for distribution through the metropolitan areas of Tucson or
Phoenix. Over the last year, cases have included distribution
destinations in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York among other Midwest
and East Coast markets.
COOPERATION WITH INTERDICTION AGENCIES
As I previously mentioned, DEA is primarily an investigative agency --
not an interdiction agency. But we are not alone in our efforts.
Sharing information with other law enforcement agencies is a vital
responsibility of DEA. It is the only way that we can effectively
combat illegal narcotics. The DEA looks forward to collaboration with
the newly created Department of Homeland Security. In addition, I'd
like to highlight the collaboration of numerous partners at the
Federal, state and local levels.
SOUTHWEST BORDER INITIATIVE
One of DEA's main functions is to coordinate drug investigations that
take place along America's 2,000-mile border with Mexico; this is an
effort that involves thousands of federal, state, and local law
enforcement officers. Mexican drug groups have become the world's
pre-eminent drug traffickers, and they tend to be characterized by
organizational complexity and a high propensity for violence. To
counter this threat, federal drug law enforcement has aggressively
pursued drug trafficking along the U.S./Mexico border. The DEA;
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Department of Homeland
Security's Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (BCBP), which
includes the U.S. Border Patrol; United States Attorneys; and state
and local law enforcement agencies continue to work together to reduce
the amount of illicit drugs entering the United States through the
U.S./Mexico Border. Our strategy is to attack major Mexican-based
trafficking organizations on both sides of the border, simultaneously,
by employing enhanced intelligence and enforcement initiatives and
cooperative efforts with the Government of Mexico.
INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS
Today, the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) serves as the principal
national tactical intelligence center for drug law enforcement. EPIC
is multidimensional in its approach to intelligence sharing. It has a
research and analysis section as well as a tactical operations section
to support foreign and domestic intelligence and operational needs in
the field. It is staffed by representatives from the DEA; FBI; U.S.
Coast Guard; BCBP; the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(BICE); U.S. Secret Service; Federal Aviation Administration; U.S.
Marshals Service; National Security Agency; Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Internal Revenue Service; and the
Department of the Interior. Although the immigration and customs
functions were recently incorporated into the Department of Homeland
Security, representatives from BCBP and BICE will retain their
participation in EPIC.
EPIC manages a highly effective Watch Program, manned by Special
Agents, investigative assistants and intelligence analysts, to provide
timely tactical intelligence to the field. The Watch Program is able
to bring together in one place, the databases of every one of its
participating agencies. EPIC also has its own internal database, which
combined with the other agency databases, provides the single most
responsive, direct conduit available for a tactical intelligence
center supporting every law enforcement agency in the nation.
HIGH INTENSITY DRUG TRAFFICKING AREA (HIDTA) TASK FORCES
Another example of how DEA interrelates with other agencies along the
border is through our participation in the High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program. HIDTAs are sponsored by the Office
of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), and their goal is to reduce
drug trafficking activities in the most critical areas of the country,
thereby lessening the impact of these areas on other regions of the
country. The HIDTA program develops partnerships between federal,
state, and local drug control agencies in designated regions by
creating enforcement task forces and investigative support centers
with which they can synchronize their efforts.
The HIDTA we belong to in this area is the Southwest Border HIDTA,
which is comprised of five partnerships along the U.S./Mexico Border.
These HIDTA Southwest Border Partnerships are located in Southern
California, Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas, and South Texas. They
address important local issues such as methamphetamine trafficking,
commercial interdiction, and intelligence collection.
OTHER TASK FORCE GROUPS
The DEA considers one of its greatest assets the state and local task
force it works with. Participating state and local agencies have a
tremendous amount of input and are actually force multipliers, adding
additional resources to DEA efforts. DEA participates in more than 210
Task Force groups and has over 1,900 task force officers on board
nationwide. State and local law enforcement officers are assigned to
these groups on a permanent basis. DEA Supervisory Special Agents
working alongside supervisory level officers from state and local
organizations manage them. The Task Force groups facilitate
information sharing through the interaction of task force officers and
DEA agents. Task force officers also are able to access DEA's
Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Information System [NADDIS] for database
checks. In the DEA Phoenix Division, we participate in state and local
task forces in Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma, Nogales, Sierra Vista and
Flagstaff. State and local officers assigned to these task forces are
deputized as federal law enforcement officers, enabling them to follow
leads and conduct investigations nationwide.
We also are maximizing the use of technology to combat drug
trafficking organizations. The DEA's Special Operations Division (SOD)
is a comprehensive enforcement operation designed specifically to
coordinate multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional, and multi-national
Title III investigations against the command and control elements of
major drug trafficking organizations operating domestically and
abroad. The investigative resources of SOD support a variety of
multi-jurisdictional drug enforcement investigations associated with
the Southwest Border, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia.
DEA participates at the federal level in Organized Crime Drug
Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), which combine the resources of many
agencies to provide a comprehensive approach against criminal
organizations. Participating state and local agencies receive
information from federal agencies that are involved in individual
OCDETF investigations.
CONCLUSION
Drug trafficking organizations operating along the Arizona/Mexico
Border continue to be one of the greatest threats to communities
across this nation. 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 dismantle the leadership of these criminal drug
trafficking organizations. The combined investigations of the DEA and
other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies continue to
result in the seizure of hundreds of tons of drugs, hundreds of
millions of dollars in drug proceeds, the indictments of significant
drug traffickers, and the dismantling of the command and control
elements of their organizations. We will continue to give this
important border area the attention it deserves.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the
committee today. I would be happy to answer any questions that you or
other members may have.
(end text)
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Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)