[House Hearing, 111 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
THE RISE OF THE MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS AND U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT
AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JULY 9, 2009
__________
Serial No. 111-24
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/
index.html
http://www.house.gov/reform
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
54-008 PDF WASHINGTON : 2009
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC
area (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC
20402-0001
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York, Chairman
PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania DARRELL E. ISSA, California
CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York DAN BURTON, Indiana
ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland JOHN M. McHUGH, New York
DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio JOHN L. MICA, Florida
JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana
WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee
DIANE E. WATSON, California MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio
STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia
JIM COOPER, Tennessee PATRICK T. McHENRY, North Carolina
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California
MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois JIM JORDAN, Ohio
MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
Columbia JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah
PATRICK J. KENNEDY, Rhode Island AARON SCHOCK, Illinois
DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois ------ ------
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland
HENRY CUELLAR, Texas
PAUL W. HODES, New Hampshire
CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut
PETER WELCH, Vermont
BILL FOSTER, Illinois
JACKIE SPEIER, California
STEVE DRIEHAUS, Ohio
------ ------
Ron Stroman, Staff Director
Michael McCarthy, Deputy Staff Director
Carla Hultberg, Chief Clerk
Larry Brady, Minority Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on July 9, 2009..................................... 1
Statement of:
Kerlikowske, R. Gil, Director, Office of National Drug
Control Policy, Executive Office of the President; Alan
Bersin, Assistant Secretary, Office of International
Affairs and Special Representative for Border Affairs, U.S.
Department of Homeland Security; and Lanny A. Breuer,
assistant attorney general, Criminal Division, U.S.
Department of Justice...................................... 10
Bersin, Alan............................................. 48
Breuer, Lanny A.......................................... 22
Kerlikowske, R. Gil...................................... 10
Owen, Todd, Acting Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Office of
Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S.
Department of Homeland Security; Kumar Kibble, Deputy
Director, Office of Investigations, U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security;
Anthony P. Placido, Assistant Administrator for
Intelligence, Drug Enforcement Administration; William
Hoover, Assistant Director for Field Operations, Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Department
of Justice; and J. Robert McBrien, Associate Director for
Investigations and Enforcement, Office of Foreign Assets
Control, U.S. Department of Treasury....................... 69
Hoover, William.......................................... 99
Kibble, Kumar............................................ 82
McBrien, J. Robert....................................... 101
Owen, Todd............................................... 69
Placido, Anthony P....................................... 97
Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by:
Bersin, Alan, Assistant Secretary, Office of International
Affairs and Special Representative for Border Affairs, U.S.
Department of Homeland Security, prepared statement of..... 50
Breuer, Lanny A., assistant attorney general, Criminal
Division, U.S. Department of Justice, prepared statement of 24
Connolly, Hon. Gerald E., a Representative in Congress from
the State of Virginia, prepared statement of............... 121
Kerlikowske, R. Gil, Director, Office of National Drug
Control Policy, Executive Office of the President, prepared
statement of............................................... 13
Kibble, Kumar, Deputy Director, Office of Investigations,
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department
of Homeland Security, prepared statement of................ 84
McBrien, J. Robert, Associate Director for Investigations and
Enforcement, Office of Foreign Assets Control, U.S.
Department of Treasury, prepared statement of.............. 104
Owen, Todd, Acting Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Office of
Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S.
Department of Homeland Security, prepared statement of..... 71
Towns, Chairman Edolphus, a Representative in Congress from
the State of New York, prepared statement of............... 4
Watson, Hon. Diane E., a Representative in Congress from the
State of California, prepared statement of................. 118
THE RISE OF THE MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS AND U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY
----------
THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2009
House of Representatives,
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room
2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Edolphus Towns
(chairman of the committee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Towns, Issa, Kucinich, Tierney,
Clay, Watson, Lynch, Quigley, Norton, Cuellar, Souder, Bilbray,
and Jordan.
Staff present: John Arlington, chief counsel--
investigations; Kevin Barstow, investigative counsel; Craig
Fischer, investigator; Jean Gosa, clerk; Carla Hultberg, chief
clerk; Chris Knauer, senior investigator/professional staff
member; Jesse McCollum, senior advisor; Ophelia Rivas,
assistant clerk; Christopher Sanders, professional staff
member; Calvin Webb, ICE detailee; Ronald Stroman, staff
director; Lawrence Brady, minority staff director; John
Cuaderes, minority deputy staff director; Jennifer Safavian,
minority chief counsel for oversight and investigations; Dan
Blankenburg, minority director of outreach and senior advisor;
Adam Fromm, minority chief clerk and Member liaison; Kurt
Bardella, minority press secretary; Tom Alexander, minority
senior counsel; and Mitchell Kominsky, minority counsel.
Chairman Towns. The committee will come to order.
Good morning and thank you all for being here.
Mexico has long been an important ally and friend of the
United States. It is this country's third largest trading
partner, has one of the largest economies in the Americas, and
remains the third largest source of foreign oil for the U.S.
market.
Unfortunately, over the past few years, organized crime has
made Mexico a major producing and transit state for illegal
drugs trafficked into the United States. As much as 90 percent
of all cocaine entering the United States comes through Mexico.
Criminals in Mexico are now the largest foreign suppliers of
marijuana and major suppliers of methamphetamine. Apparently,
crime pays: this criminal enterprise is estimated to produce
annual revenues ranging from $25 to $40 billion.
In December 2006, shortly after taking office, Mexican
President Felipe Calderon began a major crackdown on the drug
cartels operating in his country. Since then, almost 11,000
people in Mexico have been killed in drug-related violence.
Almost daily, reports from Mexico depict killings, acts of
torture, and kidnapping. And it is getting worse. This past
June was the deadliest month on record, with over 800 killed in
drug-related violence.
In short, in Mexico, drugs and violence are a growth
industry.
As a result, Mexico is facing one of the most critical
security challenges in its history. Many who have had the
courage to confront the drug cartels have been threatened or
killed. This includes policemen, soldiers, judges, journalists,
and even the clergy.
However, there is some basis for optimism. The courageous
efforts of President Calderon have resulted in important
changes. Law enforcement agencies and other Federal officials
have reported positive developments in their working
relationships with their Mexican counterparts. They say these
changes are having a significant effect in addressing the drug
threat posed to both countries.
At the same time, there is a front page article in today's
Washington Post which reads ``Mexico accused of torture in drug
war: Army using brutality to fight trafficking.'' As the effort
in Mexico to address the drug threat continues, we must be
clear that abuses from the state are equally intolerable. I
will seek to understand more about the facts relating to this
article as the committee's investigation continues.
Nevertheless, I believe the drug cartels and their
associated violence constitute a major threat to security and
safety along the Southwest border, and have caused major
disruptions to commercial activities, including international
trade.
Because of my growing concerns about this problem, I sent a
bipartisan team of committee investigators to the Southwest
border to get a first-hand look at what is happening on the
ground. Our investigators met with numerous Federal, State, and
local officials, including law enforcement, military
intelligence, and others, and observed field operations in both
daylight and night.
This hearing was designed as a followup to the staff field
investigation, to provide the committee with an overview of
Federal efforts to disrupt and dismantle the Mexican drug
trade, and to examine whether Federal agencies have sufficient
tools and capabilities to do the job.
Over the past few years, there have been nagging questions
about the effectiveness of Federal policy with regard to the
Southwest Border. While it is clear that this administration
takes the drug cartel threat very, very seriously, questions
remain.
Just 1 month ago, the administration published a document
entitled, ``National Southwest Border Counternarcotics
Strategy.'' This is a blueprint on how the administration will
address the threats posed by Mexican drug smuggling.
But the key issue remains, who is in charge?
We know who is leading the fight in Iraq. We know who is
leading the fight in Afghanistan. What we don't know is who is
leading the fight on our own border. Is it the Border Czar? Is
it the Drug Czar? Will it be the National Guard?
Perhaps we will obtain a better understanding of this
question today.
One more thing before we begin. With us today are top
representatives from key law enforcement agencies involved in
the ongoing struggle to address Mexican drug trafficking. The
work they do is critical both to Unite States national security
and in helping Mexico in its progress to turning the corner on
the threats it now confronts. I commend their efforts and I
look forward to working with them on this critical national
security matter.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Chairman Edolphus Towns
follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Towns. Before I recognize my ranking member, Mr.
Issa, for his opening statement, I would like to thank the
minority for its assistance during this investigation. All of
the work related to today's hearing was conducted on a
bipartisan basis. I would like to thank the ranking member for
his leadership and his staff for continuing to build on this
important relationship. I look forward to continuing to work
together on important matters such as today's topic.
I will now yield to the ranking member, Mr. Darrell Issa,
for his opening statement. Congressman Issa.
Mr. Issa. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. But I would have let you
go on as long as you wanted on that track. [Laughter.]
As the chairman said, this is a bipartisan issue and it is
one in which there is no distance between the chairman and
myself. Our staffs did work closely on it and intend to
continue. There is no surprise that we will reach different
conclusions on some of the fixes and some of the things that
should be done.
We certainly will reach some differences in the priorities
of the administration, including its representatives before us
today, and the two of us. But when it comes to finding the
facts and to agreeing on the portions that can be agreed on so
that we can then disagree on very little, I think this
committee is setting a high standard and I intend to continue
that.
Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that my entire
opening statement be placed in the record.
Chairman Towns. Without objection, so ordered.
Mr. Issa. Thank you.
With that indulgence, I will take a moment to recognize
Alan Bersin. I don't know the rest of you as well, but our new
Border Czar is not new to San Diego, and he is not new to
dealing with border issues; his work as a U.S. attorney, his
work in education, his work on the airport.
Alan, the list of work is too long to do as an
introduction, but you have been a champion for so many causes
in San Diego, and I couldn't be more delighted that the
President has selected you as somebody that rises above
politics, rises above either party to do what is right for our
country. So I look forward to your testimony today, and I am
particularly pleased that the border, as a separate issue is
getting attention.
I must admit that the reduction of the Drug Czar from a
full cabinet level position concerns me deeply. I think it
sends the wrong message at a time in which your efforts and the
efforts of the Mexican government are going to be critical. The
fact that we pulled away, 2\1/2\ years ago, from Plan Colombia,
we curtailed our support for Plan Colombia and then, on a very
partisan basis, failed to support the Colombian free trade
initiative, sends a chilling message to countries who bled so
long with us in order to eradicate drugs that once literally
controlled the government in Colombia.
Today, in Mexico, we have a very brave president who is
fighting the same battle, and so far appears to be making
progress. I say that because you are only one key assassination
away from a dramatic change in Mexico, and we need to
understand that. We need to understand that the depth of
corruption in Mexico which has often been well understood, when
it is in the hands of people with guns and willingness to use
them--11,000 or so murders this year alone--says a great deal.
We are going to hear today about the spillover or lack
thereof, and I believe, as a San Diegan, that people in San
Diego, at the border, the U.S. attorney and others, are doing a
good job of doing everything they can to ensure that the
activity north of the border is disconnected as much as
possible from the activity south of the border.
But let's be clear. Whether you are in San Diego or St.
Louis or Cleveland, you are directly affected by our failure to
stop narcotics from coming into our country. Every city in
America and many rural areas have organized crime directly
linked to those assets being made available and sold.
Some in my party would say that it is another country's
problem alone. I am not one of them. Today, with former Speaker
Denny Hastert, we announced, with many members from this
committee, a drug task force, one that had been somewhat
dormant for several years because we felt that we needed to
work hard to bring new emphasis to this growing problem, but
also because we want to make sure that the facts are very
clearly stated to the American people. First of all, we are the
consumers and we are the suppliers of money. We all take a
certain amount of blame for the fact that our money ultimately
leads to these cartels' operations in other countries.
Additionally, we are going to hear today about guns going
south while drugs go north. I have no doubt that drugs do go
south. One of the questions is, is it through the tunnels that
I have seen personally that move the drugs or is it somehow
through the border. Would we in fact do any real good if we set
up an exiting American checkpoint at the border, or would it
simply be one more burden borne by our Border Patrol people at
a cost much higher than either the Mexicans doing their job or,
in fact, would we accomplish very little other than to find a
small amount of drugs and a small amount of paraphernalia, when
in fact anything serious in the way of guns or other activities
are probably going through the very means that bring drugs
north are also sending things south? And if we didn't find the
drugs going north, we are just as unlikely to find the guns
going south.
Having said that, I look to an awful lot of information we
don't have every day in San Diego, and I again want to thank
the chairman, because the only way we are going to really
support the efforts of this administration and hold the
administration accountable is on a bipartisan basis. We are off
to an incredibly good start and I expect it to continue, and I
yield back.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Towns. Thank you very much, Congressman Issa.
I would now like to recognize Mr. Tierney to make an
opening statement, if he would like.
Mr. Tierney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you
and I want to thank again our witnesses for being here this
morning.
In March, the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign
Affairs had a hearing on the issue of money, guns, and drugs,
and whether or not the United States inputs were fueling
violence on the United States-Mexican border. At that hearing,
we heard testimony about what factors inside the United States
are contributing to the strength and cruelty of Mexican drug
cartels.
The key point that emerged from that hearing, a point that
I hope will be explored in more depth here today, is that
continuing to interdict drugs and smugglers on the border will
be an endless task if we don't address the other related
aspects of the drug trade. More progress needs to be made in
three main areas: guns, cash, and the demand for drugs in the
United States.
According to some estimates, as many as 90 percent of the
high-caliber weapons that are being used by drug cartels to
perpetrate the violence we have seen in the past several years
originate in the United States. We can't hope to quell the
violence that has gripped border towns and cities, violence
that threatens the stability of the Mexican government and the
safety of our own citizens on the southern border if we do not
halt the flow of arms into Mexico.
This is a significant challenge for law enforcement and
border patrol. In many cases, the manufacture and purchase of
these weapons may not be illegal. That means we have to check
the gun flow at the border as well as in the interior of this
country.
A second major factor in the drug trade and the rise of
powerful drug cartels is the cash-flow coming in from the
United States. We heard testimony at the March hearing that as
much as $25 billion in bulk cash-flows into Mexico from drug
sales in the United States each year. One of our witnesses
testified that Federal law enforcement is hampered by its
efforts to find and stop these cash-flows by what he called
antiquated legislation. It also appeared that there may be a
lack of coordination between the various agencies that have
jurisdiction in this area. I hope our witnesses today can
address those issues in more detail as well.
Finally, we must address the fact that it is the demand for
drugs here in the United States that has allowed Mexican
cartels to become profitable. According to some estimates, 90
percent of the cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana
purchased and consumed in the United States enter our country
through Mexico. Americans spend as much as $65 billion annually
in illegal drugs. There are no simple solutions to the problem,
but we need to recognize that our internal drug policies and
our success at curbing the use of these illegal substances in
the United States can have a profound effect on the stability
of our neighboring countries and our own national security.
Before closing, I also want to note that there is a global
problem, not simply an issue on the United States-Mexican
border. After the March hearing, we heard testimony that
cocaine from Mexican cartels is now headed to Europe and to
Russia. In addition, Mexican and Colombian drug cartels have
made inroads in West Africa. Our shared border with Mexico
makes the situation there of particular concern to us, but it
is just one piece of a global puzzle. I hope that our
discussion here today can inform our approach to the other
regions as well.
So, again, I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman and thank our
witnesses.
Chairman Towns. Thank you very much, Congressman Tierney.
I now yield to Congressman Bilbray.
Mr. Bilbray. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, let me
just say, as a lifelong resident of the front terra area, I
want to thank you for this hearing. It seems that everybody was
talking about wars that are overseas and far away, but we are
ignoring our own backyard, where fatalities were skyrocketing,
where the death rate among law enforcement just south of our
border was far beyond anything we had seen anywhere else in the
world. And we just sort of ignored it because it wasn't on the
radar screen for the media.
I want to apologize to the other two gentlemen, because I
have to make a mention of my friend, Mr. Bersin. I just have to
say to the administration there are disagreements I have, but
when it comes to the choice of our guy over in San Diego in the
western sector, no one could have been a better choice than
Alan, and I want to thank him for being willing to serve again,
because, as everyone knows, it is not an easy job. You knew
what you were stepping into. We don't have time for a learning
curve here, and I want to thank the administration for bringing
the man back online.
Mr. Chairman, the one thing that I have just got to say is
that too often we hear the media talk about the drug cartel,
drug cartel. We need to change the terminology to the smuggling
cartels, because we are talking about not only drugs going
north, but we are talking about guns and money coming south,
and the same cartel is involved in the illegal alien smuggling.
It is all a network and a profiteering.
In fact, I have grown up in an area where we got in the
habit of seeing illegal's being used as the mule for the
cartels and the abuses and the high risk involved with illegal
immigrants because of its relationship to the gun, money
laundering, and the drug cartels. So I just want to make sure
that we understand that when we talk about this issue, they are
all tied together. The cartels have control of the border and
the illegal crossing for much too long, and I am glad to see us
address this.
I am also glad to see this hearing because too many people
on our side of the border think this is a problem that is
across the border and it is not going to be a threat to the
American communities. This is a major threat for all of us
along the front terra area on both sides of the border and I
hope I am able to get you photos that I don't think we will
show in public, but just so the Members understand how bad this
is.
When a hospital in my county has somebody walking in with
two fingers and say, ``is there any way to preserve these
fingers so that, when we get the hostages back, we can sew them
back on?'' When you have law enforcement that finds two let me
just say the remnants of decapitation, this is the kind of
thing that we are having going on in our neighborhoods not just
in Tijuana, but in the San Diego County region. It is crossing
over and now is the time to win this battle, working with
Mexico, working with Calderon.
And let me say one thing. President Calderon is the bravest
elected official I have ever known, and I think that we have to
give credit to him and we have to throw aside our disagreements
with Mexico and work with him now, because we either fight this
battle on Mexican soil and win it or we are going to be
fighting it on American soil at a much higher cost.
I appreciate the chance to be able to be here today and
yield back.
Chairman Towns. Thank you very much, Congressman Bilbray.
I would now like to introduce our first panel of witnesses
testifying today.
Mr. R. Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National
Drug Control Policy, the Executive Office of the President; Mr.
Lanny A. Breuer, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division,
U.S. Department of Justice; and Mr. Alan Bersin, who has been
praised all morning here. I want you to know to have
Congressman Bilbray and, of course, Congressman Issa say
something nice about you, you must be great. [Laughter.]
Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and Special
Representative for Border Affairs, Office of International
Affairs, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Let me indicate we hear the bells, but we are going to go
as far as we can, Members.
Let me just swear all of you in. Would you stand and raise
your right hands?
[Witnesses sworn.]
Chairman Towns. Let the record reflect that all the
witnesses answered in the affirmative.
Why don't we start with you, Mr. Kerlikowske. Am I
pronouncing that correctly?
Mr. Kerlikowske. Very good. You are excellent in that.
Thank you.
Chairman Towns. I practiced all last night. [Laughter.]
STATEMENTS OF R. GIL KERLIKOWSKE, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF NATIONAL
DRUG CONTROL POLICY, EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT; ALAN
BERSIN, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
AND SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR BORDER AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT
OF HOMELAND SECURITY; AND LANNY A. BREUER, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY
GENERAL, CRIMINAL DIVISION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
STATEMENT OF R. GIL KERLIKOWSKE
Mr. Kerlikowske. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am honored to
be with you, and certainly Ranking Member Issa, all of the
committee members that are here today.
Last month, Secretary Napolitano, Attorney General Holder,
and I publicly released the strategy that was referenced by the
chairman. This is a comprehensive interagency plan that was
developed through the work of the Office of National Drug
Control, our office, and it was done in a way that ensured all
of the partners that you see here today being actively involved
in it.
This is a plan that is not going to sit on a shelf and
gather dust; it is being put into action even as we speak, and
it is being done in partnership also with the courageous and
dedicated work of Mexico's President Calderon, the investments
that the U.S. Government has made, and the commitment of all of
the Federal agencies and the State and local agencies that we
have talked to.
To ensure that it is turned into action, the administration
will soon be announcing a dedicated interagency working group,
which I will lead, to push forward the full and effective
implementation of strategy, and that framework is being
developed. We will provide a public report on the
implementation of the strategy as part of the administration's
first national drug control strategy, which will be published
early next year.
As part of my oversight responsibilities, my office
recently identified overarching national drug control strategy
goals to help guide all of the Federal agencies as they develop
their policy initiatives, their programmatic efforts, and their
budget proposals. Over the coming months, ONDCP will be working
with the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, State,
Defense, and others to develop cross-agency performance goals
and metrics for the Southwest Border Initiative.
In addition, as the agencies update their strategic plans,
we will be working with OMB and the Departments and the
agencies to integrate key Southwest Border priorities that are
identified in the strategy. This is not only going to ensure
accountability, but it will make it clear that combating the
flow of drugs and money and weapons across the Southwest Border
must be a core element of our Nation's approach to the entire
drug problem. It is essential that we work together as one team
to stop the flow of drugs into our country, as well as the
southbound flow of bulk currency and weapons that fuel drug
cartel violence.
To make headway on the full array of border challenges, the
Congress and the administration are going to need to work very
closely together. I am looking forward to working with this
committee and I know that part of the focus that you have
certainly identified is on accountability, and we are very
prepared to answer that.
Before I close, I want to talk for just a moment about how
vital it is that the Federal Government improves its
cooperation with State and local partners. I asked the
directors of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas to meet
with me along the Southwest Border last month. What the HIDTA
directors told me and what I believe the members of this
committee already know is that our front-line State and local
law enforcement partners have been under enormous strain.
Bill Lansdowne in San Diego, Bill Colander, the retiring
sheriff of 50-plus years of law enforcement, have been friends
for many years, so I listened to this very closely. Although
the strain is most acute on the border, as the ranking member
mentioned, clearly this is a national problem, and it affected
us in Seattle during the 9 years that I was police chief, as
well as my colleagues in Minnesota and across the country.
The administration intends to continue to help those law
enforcement agencies who need it and that are on the border and
also within the interior, and we are going to keep an intense
focus on this threat and make a difference.
The knowledge of local law enforcement, meaning the State,
County, and city, is a great advantage to the work of the
Federal Government. When it comes to the critical challenge of
interdicting the southbound flow of weapons and bulk currency,
partnership with those agencies is essential, and I think I can
be of great value in that.
State and local law enforcement personnel possess unmatched
knowledge about the organizations that operate within their
jurisdictions every day. Our law enforcement operations are
most effective when this knowledge is combined with the skill,
technology, and resources that the Federal agencies can bring.
All of us in this administration are committed to pursuing a
truly national approach to the critical problem.
Thank you, Chairman Towns. I look forward to answering
questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Kerlikowske follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Towns. Thank you very much.
Mr. Breuer.
STATEMENT OF LANNY A. BREUER
Mr. Breuer. Chairman Towns, Ranking Member Issa, and
members of the committee, I appreciate the opportunity to
appear before you today to discuss the Department of Justice's
important role in the administration's overall strategy to
address the threats posed by the rise of Mexican drug cartels,
particularly along our Southwest Border.
The Justice Department's goal is to systematically
dismantle these cartels which threaten the national security of
our Mexican neighbors, pose an organized crime threat to the
United States, and are responsible for much of the scourge of
illicit drugs and the increase in violence in Mexico.
This issue commands priority at the highest level of the
Department's leadership. As you know, on June 5th, Attorney
General Holder, Department of Homeland Security Secretary
Napolitano, and Office of National Drug Control Policy Director
Kerlikowske released President Obama's National Southwest
Border Counternarcotics Strategy. The strategy is designed to
stem the flow of illegal drugs and their illicit proceeds
across the Southwest Border and to reduce the associated crime
and violence in the region.
I look forward to working with Director Kerlikowske and
Assistant Secretary Bersin, and our many Federal, State, local,
tribal, and Mexican partners to ensure success of the
administration's strategy.
The Justice Department plays a central role in supporting
the National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy. The
Department's approach to the Mexican drug cartels is to
confront them as criminal organizations. To do so, we employ
extensive and coordinated intelligence capabilities to target
the largest and most dangerous Mexican drug cartels and focus
law enforcement resources. Our intelligence-based, prosecutor-
led, multi-agency task forces focus our efforts on the
investigation, extradition, prosecution, and punishment of key
cartel leaders.
As the Department has demonstrated in attacking other major
criminal enterprises, destroying the leadership and seizing the
financial infrastructure of the cartels is critical to
dismantling them. Stemming the flow of guns and money from the
United States to Mexico is an important aspect of the
administration's comprehensive approach to the problem. In
concerted efforts with the Department of Homeland Security and
other law enforcement entities, we are committed to
investigating and prosecuting illegal firearms trafficking and
currency smuggling from the United States into Mexico.
Another key component to neutralizing the cartels is to
work closely with the government of Mexico. The Department
plays an important role in implementing the Merida Initiative,
including serving as the lead implementer in programs and
prosecutorial capacity building, asset forfeiture, extradition
training, and forensics. We continue to work closely with
Mexico to address the issue of cartel-related public
corruption, including through investigative assistance. We also
work together on extraditions of key cartel leaders and other
fugitives. The Calderon administration has taken bold steps to
confront this threat, and we are committed to assisting our
Mexican partners in this fight.
We believe that the Department has the right comprehensive
and coordinated strategy to disrupt and dismantle the cartels
and stem the southbound flow of firearms and cash. The
strengths of the Department's approach are illustrated by, for
example, the tremendous successes of Operation Accelerator and
Project Reckoning, multi-agency, multi-national operations
targeting the Sinaloa and Gulf Cartels.
Despite our recent successes, however, we recognize that
there is much more work to do. Last month, I traveled to the
Southwest Border, along with my friend, Assistant Secretary
Bersin, and saw the acute challenges that our brave law
enforcement personnel confront on a daily basis and how
intertwined those challenges are.
The Department is committed to working together with our
colleagues at ONDCP and DHS, with our State, local, and tribal
partners, and with the government of Mexico to build on what we
have done so far, and to develop and implement new ideas and to
refresh our strategies. The recently signed MOUs between DEA
and ICE and between ATF and ICE are emblematic of our
collaborative, coordinated approach to the threats posed by the
Mexican drug cartels. By continuing to work together, we can
and will rise to the current challenge.
Again, thank you for your recognition of this important
issue and the opportunity to testify today, and I will be happy
to answer any questions you may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Breuer follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Towns. Thank you very much. Let me say that we
have votes on the floor and that we will adjourn for 1 hour and
be able to come back 10 minutes after the last vote, just in
case we run into some problems over on the floor. But I think
we should be back in an hour. So at that time we will continue
with you, Mr. Bersin. We have to vote around here.
[Recess.]
Chairman Towns. The committee will reconvene.
Again, we apologize for the delay, but votes are something
that we have to do.
Mr. Bersin.
STATEMENT OF ALAN BERSIN
Mr. Bersin. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Issa, members of
the committee, thank you for this opportunity.
The rise of the Mexican drug cartels and U.S. national
security poses the critical issue clearly and directly. This is
a subject critical to our Nation and one with which I am
familiar, having served as the Southwest Border representative
for the Department of Justice from 1995 to 1998.
Since my appointment to DHS in mid-April, I have traveled
to the border and to Mexico five times to meet with U.S.
officials at the Federal, State, local, and tribal level, as
well as counterparts in the administration of President Felipe
Calderon. I have also met, on behalf of the Department, with
immigrant advocacy groups and civic and business groups along
the border in Brownsville, Laredo, Del Rio, El Paso,
Albuquerque, Tucson, Nogales, Phoenix, and San Diego.
My experience living and working on the border has given me
an appreciation for the strategic importance of our political
and law enforcement relationship with Mexico, as well as for
the gravity of the crisis that we face presently, given the
rise of the drug cartels on the United States-Mexican border
and within Mexico itself. It is indeed a crisis, though in
using that word I note that the Chinese word for crisis is
written in Mandarin by combining two characters, the character
for danger and opportunity. Our current crisis certainly
presents both.
The danger comes from the fact that the Mexican cartels,
through violent and corrupt means, have created a national
security threat to the government of Mexico and, therefore,
derivatively, to the United States. The power of the cartels is
alarming. They have polluted the political system of Mexico;
they have corrupted the legal system. The second element of
danger is the competition among the cartels, along with the
Mexican government's attempts to combat them, have led to
unprecedented violence in the northern states of Mexico, from
Tamaulipas to Baja, CA, resulting reportedly in more than
11,000 deaths in the last 3\1/2\ years.
Our opportunity arises from the historic and courageous
efforts, indeed, heroic efforts of the Calderon administration,
first, to fully acknowledge the power of the cartels and,
second, to willingly confront the stark reality of systematic
corruption that exists in Mexican law enforcement.
The U.S. Government has been bold as well. Starting with
the unqualified acceptance, the consumption of drugs on the
U.S. side of the border is a major contributing factor to the
power and influence of Mexican cartels. For the first time, we
view drugs coming north and guns and bulk cash going south as
two ends of a single problem. It is not the occasion for finger
pointing between Mexico and the United States.
The acknowledgment of a shared problem has paved the way
for cooperation between DHS, along with DOJ, and the government
of Mexico that would have been unthinkable 10 years ago, and
even unsayable 3 years ago. DHS is working in full partnership
with the government of Mexico to respond to the dangers and the
opportunities that the current crisis has presented. This is a
relationship of trust with verification, and one that is
accepted by both countries on that basis.
On March 24th, Secretary Napolitano and Deputy Attorney
General David Ogden announced the President's major Southwest
Border Initiative, a reallocation of agents, technology,
equipment, and attention--importantly, attention--to the
border. Those deployments are now complete.
DHS has also taken steps to deepen our relationship with
partner agencies in the government of Mexico. On June 15th, for
example, Secretary Napolitano signed a Letter of Intent with
Mexican Finance Secretary Augustine Carstens to guide the
cooperative efforts of CBP, ICE, and Mexican Customs. DHS
components also have worked to broaden the bilateral
relationship in information and intelligence sharing, as well
as in other areas that are law enforcement sensitive.
Many have asked me what has changed between my first
appointment as so-called Border Czar and my current job. The
security threat on the border has certainly intensified with
regard to the activities of the drug and other smuggling
cartels that dot the border. However, I note two positive
changes within our Government that make me optimistic that we
will succeed in our efforts to reduce significantly the power
of the smuggling cartels.
First, DHS provides a significantly better resource
capability to confront security issues at the border than was
the case previously. It also has a unified chain of command
overseeing our investigation and inspection responsibilities.
Second, and genuinely, I have been impressed by the extent of
cooperation that I have witnessed among our Federal agencies,
exemplified and embodied in the relationship that Director
Kerlikowske, Assistant Attorney General Breuer, and I have
forged in short order. This is particularly true on the Merida
Initiative, the long-term vehicle for expanded cooperation
between United States-Mexican law enforcement agencies.
Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Issa, it has been said that
the challenge of our time is that the future is not what it
used to be. When it comes to United States-Mexican
relationships and the prospect for building on that cooperation
to deal with Mexican criminal organizations, that is a good
thing, a very good thing indeed. I look forward to exploring
this matter further with you and my colleagues in the question
and answer, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Bersin follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Towns. Thank you very much, Mr. Bersin, for your
testimony.
We now will move to the question and answer period.
I have a broad question, I guess, for you, Mr. Breuer and
Mr. Bersin. Are we winning the war against the Mexican drug
cartels?
Mr. Breuer. Mr. Chairman, we are. That is not to say that
we don't have much to do, but if you look at the work that has
occurred with the cartels, Mr. Chairman, with respect to
operations that we have, whether it is Operation Accelerator,
Project Reckoning, where we have systematically gone,
investigated, and prosecuted the cartels, we have extracted
enormous blows against the Sinaloa Cartel, against the Gulf
Cartel, we have higher levels of extraditions of drug kingpins
than ever before. So we are making every effective strategy
with respect to intelligence-based investigations and
prosecutions.
That is not to suggest for a moment that we don't have more
to do, but the battles among the cartels themselves are showing
that the pressure that we are putting on them in unison and in
alliance with President Calderon and his administration I think
do demonstrate that we are being very effective.
Chairman Towns. Mr. Bersin.
Mr. Bersin. Generally, Mr. Chairman, I agree with Mr.
Breuer that this is a long-term struggle about reducing the
power of the cartels on the government of Mexico and,
therefore, turning it from what is currently a national
security threat into a more conventional law enforcement or
criminal justice problem. And measured by that standard, I
think we have a ways to go, but I am in accord with Mr. Breuer,
for the reasons he stated, that we are making progress and that
it is measurable progress, and that we can in fact intensify
what we are doing and that we can continue to see a weakening
of the cartel power, which now is alarmingly high, as I said in
my statement.
Chairman Towns. It has been indicated that the President is
planning to send National Guard troops to the border. Of
course, if we send National Guard troops to the border, who
will be in charge of them?
Mr. Bersin. Mr. Chairman, the decision whether or not to
send National Guard in support of law enforcement at the United
States-Mexican border, indeed, at any border, is a decision
reserved exclusively for the President. Secretary Gates and
Secretary Napolitano have been conferring and will be
developing a recommendation that will be submitted to the
President, but at end, Mr. Chairman, the mission of the
decision is a function of Presidential decision, and I am
confident that in due course that decision will be made one way
or the other.
Chairman Towns. What are the implications for U.S. national
security should the Calderon administration fail in its efforts
to take on the Mexican drug cartels? What are the stakes for
both Mexico and the United States? Mr. Breuer, you want to take
it?
Mr. Breuer. Mr. Chairman, they are very, very significant.
Certainly for Mexico, as Assistant Secretary Bersin said, they
are confronting a national security tremendous challenge right
now in their battle against the cartels. With respect to us
right now, it is the equivalent of a major organized crime
challenge. We cannot permit President Calderon to fail. This
may be a once in a generation opportunity, his courage and his
willingness to take on the cartels. So the consequences are
very extraordinary, and we need to deploy the appropriate
resources and skill and collaboration to ensure that we do
everything we can to support the President.
Chairman Towns. Mr. Bersin, I would like to hear from you
on that as well.
Mr. Bersin. I am in agreement with Secretary Napolitano,
having heard her refer to this window of opportunity. To the
extent that we are not able to weaken the influence of the
cartels on the Mexican political system, we will continue to
see a Mexico that is systematically corrupt in which decisions
are not being made on the merits, but are rather being made
because they are bought and paid for.
That kind of a narco-influenced political system south of
the border presents a whole series of long-term security
threats to Mexico, which is why it is so important that we use
this window of opportunity with the Calderon administration to
weaken the power of these criminal organizations, these
smuggling organizations that do enormous damage to our society,
but even more damage to Mexican society.
Chairman Towns. What would victory really look like? Let's
go right down the line. What would it really look like, victory
for us?
Mr. Kerlikowske. One of the things that victory in Mexico
would look like is certainly that President Calderon has, as we
have in this country, a local law enforcement that is
professional, highly trained, skilled, possesses the integrity
to be responsive to the needs of protecting the people rather
than the heavy use of the military in that country.
The other thing that I would look at in victory, too, is
that, as has been remarked to me by representatives from the
government of Mexico, and that is the increasing addiction
population or size of the population involved in drug use. As
all of the members, I believe, of the committee know, the
traffickers often pay their couriers in product rather than in
currency. Well, then you are building up a new clientele base.
We in the United States have to be willing, and have already
looked at providing resources that work toward the prevention
end of drug use in that country, but also the treatment end,
and those are other parts that we hope to play.
Chairman Towns. I yield to the gentleman from California,
Congressman Issa.
Mr. Issa. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Bersin, during your tenure as U.S. attorney, you were
quite well known for going after the coyotes, literally
stopping those who traffic in human beings; and along the way
you did an awful lot of drug charges that they were involved in
and the mules they carried. Can you give us your opinion of
current law, particularly 1326, 1324, some of the penalties
that you have--let me rephrase that, that the U.S. attorney at
the border areas have as tools today, and are they sufficient?
Mr. Bersin. Mr. Issa, you raise an important point,
particularly in this era in which the sharp division that used
to exist between alien smuggling organizations and drug
smuggling organizations has been blurred, in part by the
efforts Mr. Breuer described, the pressure being brought on the
cartels by U.S. enforcement, but, importantly, by Mexican
enforcement, but also by the recessionary economy.
So we begin to see a blurring of those lines, and I
believe, certainly speaking from the perspective of 10 years
ago, the series of statutes available to prosecutors--and I
will defer immediately to Mr. Breuer, since I wear proudly a
former hat as a prosecutor--but as an enforcement official, I
would say that 1326 and 1325, which, of course, is a
misdemeanor, work well. 1324, which is the penalties for alien
smugglers, is something that, 10 years, was believed to require
review, and I submit, regardless of how we come out on it, it
could stand a further review at this point.
Mr. Issa. Mr. Breuer, basically what I am trying to get to
is we have had a challenge at the border that I have observed,
which is that the first several times that you catch a
trafficker, he gets treated almost as an amateur, like he just
happened to be stumbling over the border by mistake; it is 60
days and out, time served. The second time isn't much more. And
we have had cases of dozens and dozens of times in which we
cannot get, sometimes because of statute, we can't get the kind
of enforcement.
All three of you, do you believe that the Congress should
be looking into giving you, as prosecutors, and the courts, in
their determination, at least a greater ability to have the
lower limits raised and/or give them the ability to have
tougher sentences even on the first or second time that you
catch a trafficker, regardless of whether you can actually
catch him with the drugs?
Mr. Breuer. Thank you, Congressman. I definitely think it
is an issue that needs to be explored. I think what we need to
do is we need to give the tools particularly to our U.S.
attorneys such as what Secretary Bersin was when he was the
remarkably effective U.S. attorney in San Diego. I think we
need to give our U.S. attorneys, particularly in the southwest
border States, the discretion and the tools so that they can
effectively and comprehensively deal with the issue.
But I don't think, candidly, that there is one size fits
all, and I think we have to give our U.S. attorneys in those
areas the discretion to prioritize, because, if we are going to
charge under one aspect of the law such as this, we have to
then ensure that we have appropriate facilities, whether it is
prison facilities and other facilities----
Mr. Issa. Well, let me go back through that.
Mr. Breuer. Sure.
Mr. Issa. California has tens of thousands of people who
are petty criminals and illegal aliens. Are you saying that if
we wanted to incarcerate every coyote, every person who is
trafficking either in drugs or in human beings, that you don't
have the capacity today to incarcerate every single one of
those people for a significant period of time?
Mr. Breuer. I think that there would be terrific
challenges, Congressman. I think that to have the appropriate
facilities and infrastructure to do that would require a lot.
And more to the point, as we look at this comprehensive
approach, what we really want to do is give our U.S. attorneys
the tools so that we can most effectively dismantle the very
cartels that you are talking about.
Mr. Issa. Well, the only tool a prosecutor really has is
the ability to incarcerate. Any tool short of that is an
alternate. In other words, if you turn on the rest of your
cartel, we will not lock you up for 10 years. That is a
powerful tool. If you turn on your cartel or you are going to
spend 60 days in the hoosegow, somehow I don't think that is a
powerful tool.
So the reason I am asking for this is threefold. First of
all, should we have it? I think Mr. Bersin was more tending to
say he wouldn't mind having the stronger tools at his disposal
and at the judges' disposal to use that as a tool in order to
get cooperation and, in many cases, incarceration. But the
bigger question for us up here is are we clogging the system
with not having comprehensive immigration reform, with not
having relations with Mexico that allows us to return more of
their citizens sooner with a full faith belief that they will
incarcerate them?
So although my time has expired and I have to be sensitive
to the limited time, I would like it if you would look at it
from that standpoint, because we are the Committee on Oversight
and Government Reform, and we are the first stop in are there
tools you don't have, either north or south of the border, that
we could begin shedding light on.
Mr. Breuer. Congressman, I think you have identified
exactly, in a very eloquent way, the issue. We absolutely, as a
component of this, ought to have comprehensive immigration
reform. There is just absolutely no question. Second, in our
building of our relationships with the Mexican government and
President Calderon, a very effective tool, of course, is that
we, in certain circumstances, do want to be able to return
people to Mexico and know and have confidence that the Mexican
government is going to treat them appropriately. So absolutely
those are parts of the puzzle.
Chairman Towns. Thank you very much.
I now yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr.
Tierney.
Mr. Tierney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Gentlemen, do we fully appreciate the amount of corruption
and the depth of the corruption that is involved? With the
large amount of money that is indicated that is involved with
this that is going into Mexico and the reports that we see
about corruption in the police departments, corruption in the
military, corruption in the judicial system, what can we do
about that? What are we doing about it? And what confidence do
you have that we are going to get a grip on that? Because
without taking the profit out of this thing and deal with that
money, we are just spinning our wheels, right?
Mr. Breuer. Congressman, it is an enormous challenge, you
are absolutely right. One of the effective tools that we do
have and that we hope to do more of is our ability through
Merida and other initiatives to work with and train law
enforcement in Mexico. We are making great strides with respect
to training vetted units, units that we have a lot of
confidence in are in fact not subject to bribery, whether it is
because, to be vetted, they are subject to polygraphs and a
kind of background review----
Mr. Tierney. Do you mind if I interrupt you for a second?
You are talking about the military as opposed to police there?
Mr. Breuer. No, I am talking about the police as well. I am
talking about the police.
Mr. Tierney. You would agree there is a significant amount
of fear amongst police officers right there now? No matter how
much you train them and how much you give them the pay,
sometimes either going away or taking the money is a lot better
alternative than having your family violated or be killed
yourself.
Mr. Breuer. And that is why it is such an enormous
challenge. But there are many courageous law enforcement units
in Mexico and these vetted units are a good representation of
them.
Mr. Tierney. Doubtless there are a lot of courageous people
there, but don't we have to do something about the money, about
the cash? I mean, if we stop the profit, we stop the cash, we
are a long way along, I would think. So tell me what are your
thoughts about the importance of disrupting the cartels' drug
activity by seizing their money and what are we going to do to
do that?
Mr. Breuer. Well, you are right, and I will defer to my
colleagues here as well, but, of course, what we are doing is,
from the law enforcement point of view and, of course, at the
Justice Department we have unparalleled levels of forfeiture
and seizure of the profits and the money and the possessions of
the cartel members. Frankly, one of our training programs is to
teach and incorporate, even in Mexico, the same concept of
forfeiture and seizure of their assets.
Mr. Tierney. But don't we have to do that further back the
line?
Mr. Bersin, don't you agree?
Mr. Bersin. Absolutely. Congressman, one of the changes
that has taken place recently is the frank acknowledgment on
our end of the bargain that the consumption of drugs in this
country that generates through trafficking organizations the
kinds of sums of money that have corrupted Mexican politics and
its legal system is something that will continue until we get a
better handle on reducing the demand.
Mr. Tierney. So how are we going to get that money further
up the chain while it is in the United States, before it goes
south?
Mr. Bersin. With regard to the drug demand reduction, the
Southwest Border Strategy that was unveiled by the AG, by
Director Kerlikowske and the Secretary, place a heavy emphasis
on that and it does so on the border.
Mr. Tierney. I see that, but there is still, at least in
the interim, until we all manage to have a heavy effort on
that, is going to be that cash.
Mr. Bersin. The cash going south is again another departure
that has been made by Secretary Napolitano, having CBP and the
Border Patrol, as well as field office, pay attention to that,
so that, for the first time, while we had them in the past, we
have systematic checks going southbound. And this is a project
that is very much geared to cooperating with Mexico as it
builds up its enforcement capacity, again, for the first time--
--
Mr. Tierney. I guess part of my concern is that a couple
months ago you had sporadic checks going southbound--I think
much too sporadic to be very effective--and we may not have the
infrastructure there to really be effective on that. So, again,
what are you going to do about the infrastructure there to make
sure that we have a southbound steady impact on that and then
further back the line? Because by the time it gets to the
border, with the tunnels--that I hope to get to in a moment--
things of that nature, it may be too late.
Mr. Bersin. Congressman, you are right that it wasn't until
mid-April, when the Secretary changed the policy, that we went
from very sporadic checks to systematic checks from Brownsville
to San Diego. We need to continue to assess the effectiveness
of that and particularly to see this as a bridge to Mexican
capacity to conduct its inspections, which it is now building
up, again, from Matamoros on the east to Tijuana on the west.
We need to assess that. Whether or not we should be making
a major investment in infrastructure to have two southbound
checks, one United States and one Mexican, is one that
certainly is on the table, but I think we need to learn a lot
more about the response to this action.
Mr. Tierney. Is there anything in the plan about coming
further back to the chain before things get to the Southwest
Border?
Mr. Bersin. No question.
Mr. Tierney. What aggressively are we going to do with
that?
Mr. Kerlikowske. There is a lot of progress. There are a
couple of things that are being done besides those increased
searches at the border. They are using local law enforcement to
help with that, so in Seattle we sent officers trained with
canines, along with the Sheriff's Department and others, at the
request of the Federal Government. All of these local law
enforcement agencies across the country are more than willing
to do their part to help. That is only one part.
The other, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, they
are in 28 places around the United States. Their mission is to
disrupt and dismantle those drug trafficking organizations.
Often, they have the routes in Mexico. They not only seize the
drugs, make the arrests, work with Federal prosecutors or local
prosecutors, but they also go after the funds and the money. So
you are not just stopping the bulk cash at border, you are
stopping the bulk cash in Seattle and California and other
places. And there is progress; there is more training being
done on that.
In Treasury, FinCEN is working very hard under the new
credit card act to develop ways of looking at the use of just a
card that is going to carry thousands of dollars of cash. There
is a lot more to be done, but there is a lot of progress on
that front. Choking off the money is the key.
Mr. Tierney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Towns. Gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Quigley.
Mr. Quigley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Gentlemen, I know the issue of the National Guard was
raised broadly earlier. Is it accurate there are about 500
National Guardsmen on the Southwest Border as we speak?
Mr. Bersin. There are a complement of National Guard that
have been engaged in an ongoing project that has been in
existence for more than two decades in support of law
enforcement activities, and I believe that number is one that I
need to confirm. I do know that most of the Guardsmen are
actually away from the border, engaged in intelligence,
analytical activities, and the like. But I need to confirm
whether it is 400 or some smaller number that are actually
physically on the border today.
Mr. Quigley. Well, two followups. The first would be the
activities that they are completing as you talk about, do they
relate to these drug cartel activities?
Mr. Bersin. The counterdrug program that has been in
existence for two decades, and that I am very familiar with
from my time as a prosecutor in the 1990's, is definitely
counterdrug in nature. That is the basis that Congress has
authorized the activity and these are activities that involve
supporting law enforcement in a variety of ways that are
consistent with the division between law enforcement and the
military that served this country well over the years.
Mr. Quigley. You have probably read about the press
accounts that discussed the possibility of the administration
increasing this number of National Guardsmen, perhaps to
another 1500. Is that your understanding or is that still in
the planning stages?
Mr. Bersin. This is all in the discussion stage, as I
indicated, Congressman, between Secretary Napolitano, Secretary
Gates. Together, they intend to make a joint recommendation to
the President, who retains and will make the final decision.
Mr. Quigley. OK. And excuse me if this has been discussed,
because we are between votes in two committees here, but we
have had in previous hearings such as this discussions about
the conflicts between DEA and ICE, and I understand there has
been an agreement that was signed on this. What exactly was the
problem and how does this solve it, and do you sense that it is
solving that issue?
Mr. Breuer. Well, what it shows, Congressman, is the issue
with ICE and DEA, they just entered into a Memorandum of
Understanding. I think it is fair to say that there is a
remarkable commitment to work together and that they in fact
have been working well together, but now what happens is that
ICE and DEA can work together.
ICE agents can be designated to pursue drug-related crimes
that are border related, but they can do that throughout the
country; and, very importantly, the information that ICE
gathers in its investigations can be shared in one of our
remarkable data fusion centers so that all of the information
from ICE and DEA and other law enforcement is shared together,
so it comprehensively and effectively can be used to go after
the cartels.
Mr. Quigley. And there is perhaps an information loop that
will follow back to make sure that continues to be the case?
Mr. Breuer. There is, and there is a very great commitment
by DEA and ICE, Homeland Security, and the Department of
Justice to ensure that will happen, and I am quite confident it
will.
Mr. Bersin. Congressman, on the second panel you will have
a working agent from Immigration Customs Information from DHS
who I think will speak very directly to your inquiry.
Mr. Breuer. And Assistant Director Placido from the DEA can
as well, Congressman.
Mr. Quigley. Time permitting, I guess, the third point
being we often hear this figure that 90 percent of the guns
confiscated in this conflict come from the United States. Given
that we are not necessarily tracing all those guns, perhaps a
fraction of them, how are we determining that figure?
Mr. Breuer. Well, I think, Congressman, the precise number
may be a little bit hard to identify. Of course, you are
absolutely right, of those guns recovered for which one can
trace them, I think that number that you have identified is the
number that has been said, and I think that is right. I think
the larger issue is that it is inescapable that a very large
percentage of the guns that are in Mexico today do in fact come
from the United States, and as we together are joining with our
friends in Mexico to combat the battle, that is one of the
issues that we all have to confront here ourselves.
Mr. Quigley. Why aren't more guns traced? Is it just
because some of them are untraceable or just the volume makes
it difficult for ATF to trace?
Mr. Breuer. Well, Congressman, what may work is in the
second panel, Billy Hoover of ATF is here. He can, in a much
more cogent manner than I, explain some of the intricacies
there. But, of course, when possible, a good number of them
have been traced. But I think he will be in a better position
than I to tell you some of the challenges that ATF has found.
Mr. Quigley. And I appreciate that. We will have a second
panel.
Mr. Chairman, just in closing, I suppose it would be easier
to control that if we continue what the Clinton administration
did, which was a ban on semiautomatic weapons. It is a lot
easier to control them if they are not being sold.
Chairman Towns. The gentleman's time has expired.
The gentlewoman from Washington, DC.
Ms. Norton. Well, I would like to pick up where the
gentleman left off. I was, frankly, embarrassed by the
performance of our country when the terrible episodes of armed
conflict some thought might even bring down the Government. It
may have been somewhat exaggerated.
Here was the President trying to fight the gun cartels, and
guess who was supplying the guns? And turns out not only are we
not configured to find these guns, even with the most
elementary inspection capacity, but keystone cop fashion, when
we did some sporadic outbound inspections, they just looked at
where you were doing them and got their guns out anyway.
The notion that this country would have been so central to
the supply of guns, which were in such plentiful supply that it
was like an army that the Government itself was up against, not
just a bunch of thugs. They had so much weaponry. So we know we
are not doing much once you get guns. We know it doesn't take
much to get them to Mexico.
I am far more interested in how these thugs so easily pick
up guns in this country and these guns are being sold.
Assistant Secretary Breuer, how you could pick up a large cache
of guns, equip yourself as if you were an army with such force
that the Government, for a while there, was essentially
fighting an internal army supplied in no small part by the
United States of America.
Now, where do these guns come from? How are they able to
pick them up in such large numbers? How are they able to get
out what amounts to enough guns to arm a virtual small army,
many of them from the United States? And regardless of the
figures and the notion that, well, a lot of them came from X,
Y, or Z, you know exactly where they came from, Mr. Breuer.
And while you may not be able to trace them, you have law
enforcement jurisdiction in the United States of America, and
why are you not keeping these guns from being either bought or
otherwise in such large numbers so that they now arm a small
army in another country? It is extremely embarrassing. Mexico
has been, I think, very kind to us.
I would have been very, very angry at the big kahuna in the
north that was essentially shipping down arms to kill my people
while they won't do anything about its own assault weapon ban,
while nobody in your administration even spoke out about
illegal guns and the proliferation of guns in our country,
except the Attorney General did say something about it. So it
looks like all you have to do is get some guns and you will get
them across the border very easily, and nobody in the United
States is doing very much to keep thugs from acquiring those
guns in the first place.
I am interested in this country, what you are doing here,
before you get to the border.
Mr. Breuer. Well, Congresswoman, I share your concern. I
want to begin by saying that there are people who are working
very hard. Our ATF agents are doing an extraordinary job with
their resources, Congresswoman.
Ms. Norton. What are they doing? Who is selling the guns?
Who is selling the guns, sir? Where are the guns coming from?
Mr. Breuer. Well, I think they are coming from a lot of
places, Congresswoman. I think they are coming from licensed
firearm dealers, where you have straw purchasers. The power of
these cartels is extraordinary and, as you know, their reach is
great. So we have to dismantle those cartels. But some are
coming from licensed firearm dealers some on the Southwest
Border----
Ms. Norton. Is there nothing you can do about those coming
from licensed----
Mr. Breuer. Well, our ATF agents are doing a lot, but they
have limited resources, Congresswoman.
Ms. Norton. What are they doing?
Mr. Breuer. What are they doing? They are going to these
licensees; they are doing inspections.
Ms. Norton. Are they doing any undercover work?
Mr. Breuer. Yes, they are, Congresswoman, they are doing a
lot, and they are sharing it with lots of agencies. So it is
not fair to be critical of our agents. With the resources that
they have, they are doing extraordinary jobs and every day they
are serving the American people well.
Ms. Norton. I am critical of your leadership, sir. I don't
know about your agents. I love the ATF.
Mr. Breuer. Well, Congresswoman----
Ms. Norton. I am talking about what it takes to dismantle
the gun cartel in this country that is not only enabling, but
making possible----
Chairman Towns. The gentlewoman's time has expired.
Let me first thank you for your testimony and again
apologize for the delay. We will hold the record open. If you
can get some information for us. The arrest rate seems to be
very aggressive in terms of what is happening in Mexico, but
could you get us some information on the convictions? It is one
thing to make a lot of arrests, but I want to know if we can
get some information in terms of the percentage in terms of
convictions, we would appreciate it. We will hold the record
open for it.
Mr. Breuer. Absolutely.
Chairman Towns. That is a good point, too. Lengths of
sentences as well. Yes, that is a good point.
So we will hold the record open for that information. Thank
you very, very much.
Mr. Breuer. Thank you very much.
Chairman Towns. Now we will bring up our second panel: Mr.
Anthony P. Placido, Mr. Kumar Kibble, Mr. Todd Owen, Mr.
William Hoover, and Mr. Robert McBrien.
[Pause.]
Chairman Towns. Would you please rise so I can swear you
in?
[Witnesses sworn.]
Chairman Towns. Let the record reflect that they all
answered in the affirmative.
Let me introduce our second panel of witnesses.
Anthony P. Placido is the Assistant Administrator for
Intelligence Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Department
of Justice, welcome; Mr. Kumar Kibble, Deputy Director of the
Office of Investigations, U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, welcome; Mr.
Todd Owen, Acting Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Office of
Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S.
Department of Homeland Security; Mr. William Hoover, Assistant
Director of Field Operations, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Department of Justice; and Mr. J.
Robert McBrien, Associate Director of Investigations and
Enforcement, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Department of
the Treasury.
Gentlemen, it is our committee policy, of course, that 5
minutes for your presentation and then you allow us an
opportunity to raise questions with you. So why don't we just
go right down the line. I guess, Mr. Owen, you first, and then
just go right down the line that way, make it a lot easier.
STATEMENTS OF TODD OWEN, ACTING DEPUTY ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER,
OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS, U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; KUMAR KIBBLE, DEPUTY
DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS, U.S. IMMIGRATION AND
CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY;
ANTHONY P. PLACIDO, ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR INTELLIGENCE,
DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION; WILLIAM HOOVER, ASSISTANT
DIRECTOR FOR FIELD OPERATIONS, BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO,
FIREARMS AND EXPLOSIVES, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE; AND J.
ROBERT McBRIEN, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR INVESTIGATIONS AND
ENFORCEMENT, OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL, U.S. DEPARTMENT
OF TREASURY
STATEMENT OF TODD OWEN
Mr. Owen. Good afternoon, Chairman Towns, Ranking Member
Issa, distinguished members of the committee. Good afternoon.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss the
efforts that U.S. Customs and Border Protection is undertaking
to secure our Nation. I am pleased to be here with my
colleagues from ICE, DEA, ATF, and OFAC.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the Congress
for its continued support of the mission and people of CBP.
Among the numerous priorities that were recognized in the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Congress
provided CBP with $680 million for greatly needed improvements
to our aging infrastructure at our ports of entry, to enhance
our tactical communications equipment, and upgrade our non-
intrusive inspection technologies. This funding will allow CBP
to more efficiently meet our twin goals of border security and
facilitation.
CBP has taken significant steps to protect Americans from
the many threats that face our Nation. This afternoon, I would
like to focus my remarks on the violence along the Southwest
Border, particularly in regards to the outbound enforcement
activities occurring at the ports of entry.
The campaign of violence being waged by drug cartels in
Mexico remains a major concern. Illegal drugs, money, and
weapons flow both ways across our border and link the United
States and Mexico in this battle. In response to this threat,
the Department of Homeland Security has implemented a Southwest
Border Security Strategy and CBP's Office of Field Operations
is responsible for implementing this strategy at our ports of
entry.
We in CBP Field Operations have taken significant action on
the Southwest Border, having enhanced our outbound enforcement
efforts through the deployment of additional manpower,
equipment, and technology. On a regular and recurring basis,
teams of CBP officers, CBP border patrol agents, special agents
from ICE and other Federal agencies, along with our State and
local law enforcement partners, are now conducting outbound
inspections at our ports of entry with a focus on interdicting
firearms and currency heading into Mexico.
CBP's mobile response teams are also quickly utilized to
shift personnel between the ports of entry to further disrupt
outbound smuggling efforts. These personnel are supported by
non-intrusive inspection equipment which allows us to quickly
scan a conveyance for the presence of anomalies, anomalies
which may indicate contraband of some sort.
CBP Field Operations currently deploys 227 large-scale
inspection systems to our ports of entry, 91 of which are along
the Southwest Border. Many of these systems are mobile, which
can and are being used in our outbound interdiction efforts as
well. And CBP is again grateful for the $100 million in
stimulus funding which will allow us to upgrade our NII
systems.
We are also deploying dual detection canines, which are
trained to detect both currency and firearms. We are adding
additional canine assets to the Southwest Border throughout the
summer as these teams come out from the academy in Front Royal,
VA, and these detection tools will again allow our officers to
quickly scan the southbound traffic looking for bulk cash,
currency, and firearms.
We are seeing the success of these increased outbound
interdiction efforts. Since CBP began these initiatives with
our partners on March 12th, we have seized more than $15.8
million in illicit currency destined for Mexico. We are also
pursuing activities which increase support and collaboration
with our Mexican counterpart. At United States and Mexican
border crossings, joint operations with Mexican Customs have
begun and more are planned in an effort to better coordinate
the inspection of travelers and cargo leaving the United States
heading into Mexico.
Chairman Towns, Ranking Member Issa, members of the
committee, thank you for your support that CBP has had in
meeting many of our border security responsibilities. I thank
you for the opportunity to be here this afternoon and would be
happy to address any of your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Owen follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Towns. Thank you very much for your testimony, Mr.
Owen.
Mr. Kibble.
STATEMENT OF KUMAR KIBBLE
Mr. Kibble. Chairman Towns, Ranking Member Issa, and
distinguished members of the committee, on behalf of Secretary
Napolitano and Assistant Secretary Morton, I would like to
thank you for the opportunity to discuss ICE's role in securing
the border through the investigation and enforcement of the
Nation's immigration and customs laws.
As the primary investigative agency within DHS, ICE targets
transnational criminal networks and terrorist organizations
that might exploit potential vulnerabilities at our borders.
Our partnerships are essential to this effort. ICE recently
strengthened two of these crucial partnerships by renegotiating
agreements with the DEA and the ATF. These agreements will
improve and enhance information sharing and promote effective
coordination.
The violence along our Southwest Border requires a
comprehensive and collaborative effort. On March 24th, the
Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and State announced
the Southwest Border Initiative designed to crack down on
Mexican drug cartels. This initiative was augmented by the
recently released 2009 National Southwest Border
Counternarcotics Strategy.
Since the March announcement, we have seen significant
increases in seizures of drugs and currency compared to the
same time period in 2008. During the period between the March
announcement and June 23rd of this year, ICE and CBP together
have increased narcotics and U.S. currency seizures by over 40
percent.
ICE continues to work with its Federal partners to
collaborate in various ways. For example, in 2005, DHS created
the Border Enforcement Security Task Force. The 15 BESTs are a
series of ICE-led multi-agency task forces that identify,
disrupt, and dismantle criminal organizations posing
significant threats to border security. Since 2005, the BESTs
have reported over 4,000 criminal arrests and seized over
200,000 pounds of narcotics, over 2500 weapons, and over
370,000 rounds of ammunition, including $26 million in U.S.
currency and monetary instruments.
One recent success story was exemplified through a joint
BEST investigation between ICE, ATF, and the El Paso Police
Department, which led to the indictment of four individuals
attempting to purchase and illegally export weapons and
ammunition out of the United States. The weapons they attempted
to purchase and smuggle included 300 AR-15 rifles, 300 short-
barrel .223 caliber rifles, 10 Barrett .50 caliber sniper
rifles, two 40 millimeter grenade machine guns, and 20 handguns
with silencers, as well as a large amount of ammunition. The
firearms would have had a total street value of over half a
million dollars.
Given the success of the BEST model, ICE has shifted
investigators to these task forces and doubled the number of
agents working on BESTs along the Southwest Border from 95 to
190. This greatly expands our ability to work with State and
local law enforcement on cartel-related crime occurring on the
U.S. side of the border.
A large number of weapons recovered in Mexico's drug wars
are smuggled illegally into Mexico from the United States.
Clearly, stopping this flow must be an urgent priority, and ICE
is uniquely positioned to address this challenge. In June 2008,
ICE, along with CBP and other Federal, State, and local
partners, launched Operation Armas Cruzadas. Since its
inception, Armas Cruzadas has resulted in the seizure of 1,600
weapons, more than $6.4 million, and over 180,000 rounds of
ammunition, and the arrest of 386 individuals.
In addition to addressing weapons smuggling, ICE has
partnered with CBP through Operation Firewall to combat the
illegal movement of cash across the Southwest Border. Since its
inception, Firewall has resulted in the seizure of over $210
million, including over $65 million seized overseas and 475
arrests.
ICE also recently established the Trade Transparency Unit
with Mexico to identify cross-border trade anomalies, which are
often indicative of trade-based money laundering schemes. Under
this initiative, ICE and its partners in cooperating countries
exchange import and export data and financial information.
These efforts have led to more than $50 million in cash seized
during the last fiscal year.
We proactively attack groups engaged in human smuggling and
trafficking by initiating investigations beyond the borders.
ICE is a major participant in and supporter of the Interagency
Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center, which targets human
smugglers, traffickers, and terrorist travel facilitators. We
have identified various methods and routes used by criminal
networks to smuggle people into the United States.
To target these methods and routes, ICE, in partnership
with DOJ, formed the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike
Force in June 2006, combining our investigative, prosecutorial,
and intelligence resources to target, disrupt, and dismantle
foreign-based criminal travel networks. Complementary to the
ECT program is the pivotal role ICE continues to play as a co-
chair of the targeting project of the Interagency Working Group
on Alien Smuggling.
In conclusion, ICE is committed to working with this
committee and Congress to address the significant challenges we
face to secure the border through the enforcement of our
Nation's immigration and customs laws. I thank the committee
for its support of ICE and our law enforcement mission, and I
would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Kibble follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Towns. Thank you very much, Mr. Kibble.
Mr. Placido.
STATEMENT OF ANTHONY P. PLACIDO
Mr. Placido. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman, Ranking
Member Issa, I appreciate the opportunity to represent the
views of the Drug Enforcement Administration on this important
issue regarding the rise of criminality in Mexican cartels and
their implications for U.S. national security.
As the lead agency for enforcing the drug laws of the
United States, DEA is keenly aware of the critical requirement
to break the power and impunity of transnational crime groups
such as the Mexican cartels. These groups not only supply
enormous quantities of illicit drugs to our country, with
adverse consequences in terms of addiction, lost productivity,
and related social costs, but, left unchecked, threaten
regional stability because they undermine respect for the rule
of law, diminish public confidence in government institutions,
and promote lawlessness through corruption, intimidation, and
violence.
The good news is that, together with our highly committed
and increasingly capable Mexican partners and the generous
support of Congress through the Merida Initiative, we are
bringing unprecedented pressure against these cartels in
helping fortify Mexico's criminal justice system to assure that
these gains can be sustained over time.
The drug trade in Mexico has been rife with violence for
decades. However, intentionally gruesome drug-related violence,
kidnapping, torture, and murder have remained at elevated
levels since President Calderon initiated his bold,
comprehensive program to break the power of the cartels. And I
believe they have distributed some of the photos that
demonstrate the extent of that brutality.
Mr. Issa. Mr. Chairman, I would ask unanimous consent that
they be placed in the record but not shown, because they are
literally too gruesome, I think, for open showing. I think the
gentleman would agree.
Chairman Towns. Without objection, so ordered.
Mr. Placido. Mexican cities along our Southwest Border,
such as Juarez and Tijuana, have witnessed spectacular violence
despite the fact that El Paso and San Diego are among some of
the safest cities in America. Drug-related killings in Mexico
have escalated from approximately 1,200 in 2006 to more than
6,200 in 2008, and during the first 6 months of this year there
have been approximately 3,600, putting it on par to exceed last
year's numbers.
In the past, the violence was largely confined to persons
engaged in the drug trade. But there has been a disturbing new
trend wherein Mexican military and law enforcement officials
are being intentionally targeted by the cartels. Moreover, in
an effort intended to break the will of the government of
Mexico to confront these vicious criminals, the mutilated the
decapitated bodies of the victims are frequently left with
signs warning of even greater violence.
Even if this carnage can be confined to Mexican territory,
it has adverse consequences to U.S. national security. There is
justifiable concern that the violence plaguing Mexico will
spill across our border and have an even more pronounced effect
on Americans.
The U.S. interagency has attempted to distinguish between
the criminal-on-criminal violence that has always been
associated with the drug trade and the new phenomenon of
retaliatory violence against Mexican officials and
institutions. Accordingly, we have defined spillover violence
to entail deliberate attacks by the cartel on U.S. Government
personnel, whether in the United States or Mexico, innocent
civilians in the United States, or U.S. Government facilities,
including our embassies and consulates. Based on this
definition, we have not yet seen a significant level of
spillover violence; however, as you have heard, we must, and
are, building contingency plans for the worst case scenario.
Moreover, I would reemphasize that even if confined to
Mexico, the drug-related violence seriously undermines respect
for the rule of law and degrades confidence in Mexican
institutions. By extension, instability in Mexico has serious
national security implications here at home, as well as adverse
consequences in Central America and beyond. DEA continues to
work in cooperation with its Federal, State, local, and foreign
counterparts to address these threats.
DEA's organizational attack strategy is an attempt to
systematically disrupt and dismantle the command and control
elements of these criminal syndicates. Key to this strategy is
sharing information in coordination with our counterparts
through the Special Operations Division, the OCDETF Fusion
Center, and the El Paso Intelligence Center.
In Mexico, DEA has the largest U.S. law enforcement
presence, and its partnership with the Calderon administration
is mounting sustained attacks against these cartels. The
disruption and dismantle of these organizations, the denial of
proceeds, and the seizure of their assets significantly impact
the ability of these cartels to exercise influence and further
destabilize the region. Projects Reckoning and Operation
Accelerator are recent examples of this collaboration. While
these collaborative operations are intended to break the power
of the cartels, in the short-term they also exacerbate the
violence in Mexico.
Briefly, I would also like to address an issue of concern
that was recently highlighted by the GAO pertaining to
collaboration and cooperation between ICE and DEA. As someone
who began my career with then U.S. Customs Service, now ICE, I
want to underscore the importance of cooperation in law
enforcement and DEA's unwavering support for the recently
signed Interagency Cooperation Agreement between DEA and ICE.
Both Secretary Napolitano and Attorney General Holder have
made clear that this agreement is the most efficient and
effective way to promote interagency coordination and
cooperation. The agreement addresses the concerns of both
agencies, without the need for legislative action, by allowing
the cross-designation of an unlimited number of ICE agents to
employ Title 21 investigative authority and also strengthens
information sharing and coordination protocols.
Chairman Towns, Ranking Member Issa, members of the
committee, I thank you for the opportunity to testify and stand
ready to answer questions.
Chairman Towns. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Mr. Hoover.
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM HOOVER
Mr. Hoover. Thank you, sir.
Chairman Towns, Congressman Bilbray, and other
distinguished members of the committee, I am William Hoover,
Acting Deputy Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives. On behalf of Acting Director Ken
Melson, I am honored to appear before you today to discuss
ATF's ongoing role of disrupting firearms from being illegally
trafficked from the United States into Mexico and working to
reduce the associated violence along the border.
For over 30 years, ATF has been protecting our citizens and
communities from violent criminals and criminal organizations
by safeguarding them from the illegal use of both firearms and
explosives. We are responsible for both regulating the firearms
and explosive industries and enforcing the criminal laws
relating to those commodities.
ATF has the experience, expertise, and commitment to
investigate and disrupt groups and individuals who obtain guns
in the United States and illegally traffic them into Mexico in
facilitation of the drug trade. The combination of ATF's crime-
fighting expertise, specific statutory and regulatory
authority, analytical capability, and strategic partnerships is
used to combat firearms trafficking both along the U.S. borders
and throughout our nation.
We know we do not fight this battle alone. Last week, ATF
hosted a violent crime and arms trafficking summit in
Albuquerque, NM. This conference was monumental in establishing
a formal partnership between ATF and ICE. At this conference, a
Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the leaders of both
agencies, establishing how we will work together on
investigations regarding firearms trafficking. This agreement
also establishes a notification process that each agency will
follow while conducting these investigations.
ATF's strategy for disrupting the flow of firearms to
Mexico through Project Gunrunner has referred over 882 cases
for prosecution, involving 1,838 defendants. Those cases
include 415 for firearms trafficking, which involved 1,135
defendants and an estimated 13,382 firearms. ATF has said that
90 percent of the firearms seized in Mexico and traced come
from the United States. The GAO report that was published in
June 2009 concurred with our findings.
We have established that the greatest proportion of
firearms trafficked to Mexico originate out of the States along
the Southwest Border. Additionally, trace data shows that
traffickers are also acquiring firearms from other States as
far east as Florida and as far north and west as Washington
State. Additionally, Mexican officials have seen an increase in
the number of explosive devices used in these violent attacks.
ATF agents and explosives experts work with the Mexican
military and law enforcement to identify and determine where
these devices and components originate.
Along the Southwest Border, ATF's Project Gunrunner
includes approximately 148 special agents dedicated to
investigating firearms trafficking on a full-time basis and 59
industry operations investigators responsible for conducting
regulatory inspections of federally licensed gun dealers, known
as FFLs. We recently sent over 100 additional personnel to the
Houston Field Division to support our effort against the
trafficking of firearms to Mexico. In addition, ATF has
received a total of $25 million in new funding in fiscal year
2009 and in fiscal year 2010 for Project Gunrunner.
As the sole agency that regulates FFLs, roughly 7,000 of
which are along the Southwest Border, ATF has the statutory
authority to inspect and examine the records and inventory of
licensees, looking for firearms trafficking trends and
patterns, and revoking the license of those who are complicit
in firearms trafficking. For instance, ATF used its regulatory
authority to review the records of an FFL that received close
to 2,000 firearms, removed their serial numbers, and trafficked
them to Mexico with the aid of a co-conspirator located in
Mexico.
A key component of ATF's strategy to curtail firearms
trafficking to Mexico is the tracing of firearms seized in both
countries. Our analysis of this aggregate trace data can reveal
trafficking trends and networks showing where the guns are
being purchased and who is purchasing them.
Let me share an example of how trace data can identify a
firearms trafficker.
ATF's analysis of a trace data linked a man living in a
U.S. city along the border to three crime guns recovered at
three different crime scenes in Mexico. Further investigation
uncovered that he was the purchaser of a fourth firearm
recovered at yet another crime scene in Mexico, and that he had
purchased over 100 AR-15 type receivers and 7 additional
firearms within a short time span using nine different FFL
wholesale distributors as sources for his guns.
In April 2008, ATF seized 80 firearms from the suspect and
learned that he was manufacturing guns in his home. He sold
over 100 guns alone to an individual who is suspected of being
linked to a cartel. Investigative leads are being pursued and
charges are pending.
Last, I would like to mention ATF's operational presence at
the El Paso Intelligence Center, located in El Paso, TX. EPIC
is certainly one of the most valuable tools for intelligence
sharing and coordination in multi-agency efforts to curb
violence and firearms trafficking activities along the
Southwest Border. At EPIC, we operate what is known as the ATF
Gun Desk. The mission of the Gun Desk is to identify and
analyze all firearms and explosives-related data acquired and
collected from law enforcement and open source. This would
include Mexican military and law enforcement, and also U.S. law
enforcement assets operating on both sides of the border.
We at ATF will continue with our efforts along the
Southwest Border and will harvest our partnerships with not
only our law enforcement partners within the United States, but
will continue to work with the Mexican officials in Mexico to
obtain more information to better understand the flow of
firearms from our country into theirs.
Chairman Towns, Congressman Bilbray, and other
distinguished members of the committee, on behalf of the men
and women of ATF, I thank you and your staff for your continued
support of our crucial work. With the backing of this
committee, ATF can continue to fight violent crime in the
Nation's cities and on the border, making our Nation even more
secure. I look forward to your questions.
Chairman Towns. Thank you very much, Mr. Hoover, for your
testimony.
Mr. McBrien.
STATEMENT OF J. ROBERT McBRIEN
Mr. McBrien. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Bilbray, other members of
the committee, I am pleased to be here today on behalf of the
Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Treasury Department. I
will try to compress the statement as we go through it for the
interest of time and so that we can get into the questions and
answers.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control's mission is to
enforce economic sanctions in support of U.S. foreign policy
and national security. In the particular instance of Mexico, we
are talking about using the tool of the Foreign Narcotics
Kingpin Designation Act, which Congress passed in 1999. The
Kingpin Act has been used in responding to the threat in Mexico
since the year 2000, when the first kingpins were named by, at
that time, President Bush, and we have continued to use it
since that time. So OFAC's involvement in the fight against the
drug trafficking organizations in Mexico is not something new,
it is something we have been doing, even with the small
resources that we have.
The authorities delegated to OFAC are national security and
foreign policy tools that provide power and leverage against a
foreign country, regime, or non-state actors such as foreign
narcotics traffickers and terrorists. One of our most powerful
instruments, Specially Designated Nationals List [SDN], is used
to identify, expose, isolate, and disrupt or incapacitate a
foreign adversary with the intended result of denying them
access to the U.S. financial and commercial system, and
immobilizing their resources. OFAC's authorities are
administrative in nature, but for persons subject to U.S.
jurisdiction, violating OFAC sanctions carries both civil and
criminal penalties.
Every year since the Kingpin Act was passed, the presence
of the United States has added more kingpins to the list. These
kingpins are across the world; it is not only Mexico, although
Mexico is roughly 50 percent of those that have been named.
This year, President Obama moved from the usual June 1st date
in which the statute asked that there be a report made, and
acted early and, on April 15th, named three of the Mexican
cartels that are currently at the center of much of the
violence that is going on. We named the Los Zetas, the Sinaloa
Cartel, and La Familia Michoacana. Then again in June we named
more kingpins, except those were not involving Mexico.
These are referred to by OFAC as Tier 1 traffickers. While
the President identifies the Tier 1 traffickers, OFAC has been
delegated the authority to designate for sanctions those
working for or on behalf of, or owned or controlled by, or
materially assisting the Tier 1 traffickers. Now, this is the
real meat of the counternarcotics sanctions. These Tier 2s,
which we also call derivative designations, include the money
laundered, the family members complicit in narcotics
trafficking activities, the criminal members of the
organization, the transportation cells, the logistics,
procurement, and communication cells that make up the financial
and support networks of drug trafficking organizations.
Since 1999, the President has identified 82 Tier 1
traffickers, 37 of which are Mexican. In that same time, OFAC
has identified 251 Tier 2 designations in Mexico. In addition
to that, under the program on which the Kingpin Act was
conceptually based, which is our sanctions against Colombian
traffickers under another authority, the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act, we have also, under the
Colombian program, in recent times, named 30 Mexican entities
or individuals who are also involved in the Colombia-to-Mexico
part of the drug trade. So the total over these last several
years is 288 persons, entities and individuals, that have been
named by OFAC for the blocking of their assets and the
prohibition on their activities.
I am going to skip through parts of this and just get down
to some of the nitty gritty here. I said at the outset that our
objective is to identify and expose and isolate and
delegitimize, immobilize, disrupt, dismantle--however we can do
it--the drug trafficking organizations; and we do this by going
after the heads of the organizations, key players of the
organizations, and perhaps, most important--and this again goes
back to the meat of it--the networks, the key nodes, the choke
points, the whole support structure that makes up a cartel; not
just the people who are moving the drugs, but all the
businesses, the infiltrations of the legitimate business world,
the front companies that give them their backbone. Our
objective is to go after that backbone and try to break it.
Ultimately, we hope to be able to expose, halt, and even
reverse the penetration of the legitimate economy through our
actions. At the same time that we are doing this, we are
working collaboratively with all of our colleagues. All of the
agencies that are at this table are working with OFAC on these
projects. We have relied on and are heavily integrated with
DEA, and have been from the very beginning. I cannot say enough
for the work that they have done to enable us to carry out our
part of the program against the drug trafficking organizations
in Mexico.
At the same time that we are doing this with our
colleagues, we have, since the Calderon administration came
into power, been working very closely with the Mexicans on an
ever-escalating basis, and we are continuing to do that.
I would like to just conclude, if I may, with noting that
the Kingpin Act provides a powerful mechanism for acting
against the threat to the United States posed by foreign
narcotics cartels, whether in Mexico or elsewhere. In the case
of our southern neighbor, OFAC's employment of the Kingpin Act
authorities provides a growing opportunity for partnership in
combating the scourge of the drug trafficking organizations. It
is a force multiplier; it presents opportunities not only
supportive efforts by DEA and other U.S. criminal enforcement
agencies----
Chairman Towns. Mr. McBrien, I am going to have to ask you
summarize.
Mr. McBrien. Yes, sir. That is actually what I am doing
right now, sir.
But we are also supporting Mexican authorities. It is an
important element in achieving a unity of effort among U.S.
Federal, State, and----
Chairman Towns. What I am really saying is your 5 minutes
are up.
Mr. McBrien [continuing]. Local agencies.
Mr. Chairman, I very much appreciate that hint and I thank
you for the opportunity to be here today, and we would be glad
to hear any questions you may have and try to answer them for
you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. McBrien follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Towns. Thank you so much for your testimony. Thank
you.
To the Members, we have votes again. I understand there are
three votes. What I would like to do, if we can finish the
panel, because we do not know whether there will be some
procedural votes or not, so we are not sure how long it will
take. So what I would like to do, I would like to yield myself
2 minutes and then yield the ranking member 2 minutes and then
yield you 2 minutes, and then we will be able to sort of finish
up without having to delay them for the next hour or so.
So let me begin by, first of all, asking, you know, the
average person has difficulty relating to the fact that we have
problems in terms of the drug problems in Mexico. What do we
say to the average person out there that we are concerned about
what is happening in Mexico? How do we really explain that?
Anyone. I guess Mr. Placido or Mr. Kibble. How do we explain to
them our interest and our concerns?
Mr. Placido. Certainly. Sir, it is an excellent question
and I would answer it this way, that there is no country on the
face of the earth that is probably more important to the United
States than Mexico is to us. We share not only a common border,
but immigration issues, trade, economy, the air we breathe, the
water we drink, the water we use for irrigation and
agriculture.
We are closely intertwined, and the national security
implications of corruption, intimidation, violence, and
instability in Mexico threaten us gravely because of our
integrated economy and the integrated nature of our societies.
I think it is not only a source of drugs, much of the drugs
that are consumed and abused in the United States, but
instability south of our border creates problems on a much
broader scale.
Chairman Towns. Yes, go ahead, Mr. Kibble.
Mr. Kibble. Sir, the one thing I would add is it also, from
the homeland security standpoint, represents a vulnerability in
terms of our borders, and we have to be concerned that any
smuggling network that can arbitrarily introduce contraband
across our borders, we have to be concerned about them either
knowingly or unknowingly facilitating the introduction of
national security threats into the homeland. So, for those
reasons, from the ICE perspective and the cross-border criminal
network perspective, we need to leverage all of our efforts
collectively to shut down these networks.
Chairman Towns. I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. Bilbray. I appreciate ICE's comments about anything and
anyone who crosses the border without being checked is a
potential threat. So we have to tie that together.
I am going to ask about the Merida Initiative, but, up
front, the laundering of the profits is something we don't talk
enough about, and we have traditionally RICO provisions here--
and anybody can jump into this--the requiring viable
identification at the time that any individual opens a bank
account.
The previous administration not only did not enforce it,
but endorsed bank accounts being opened with less than secure
identification. You know exactly what I am talking about. Are
we doing anything to shut down that opportunity to have
thousands of bank accounts opened up to where we really don't
know who opened those accounts? Are we going back and
addressing these issues where we are requiring now a viable ID
be issued before we open an account, the way it used to be
before the previous administration? Anybody want to comment on
that?
Mr. McBrien. Mr. Bilbray, I am from Treasury, but I have to
admit that I am not in a position to comment on that because
that is not part of what the Office of Foreign Assets Control
deals with.
Mr. Bilbray. I just tell you in San Diego it is a hot issue
that you can go to any consulate, get a consulate card without
any ID to prove that you are who you say you want to be; and
not only were the banks allowing it, but they were condoned by
the Bush administration, opening these accounts with no
oversight to prove that this was a viable ID. Why have a law if
we are not going to apply it to everybody? So I raise that.
What are we doing with the Merida Initiative? I am very
concerned about two things. Anyone who participates in Mexico
in our process, they and their families are going to be
suspect. Is there anybody here who can talk about this openly
and how we are cooperating and how we are training and how we
are supplying Mexico to win the war on their soil before it
gets to ours?
Mr. Placido. Certainly, sir. Excellent question. I think,
as was said on the first panel, there was concern that--I think
the way it was characterized is we are one assassination away
from having the Merida plan fail. I don't know that I would go
that far, but I would certainly say that the Mexican partners
with whom we work are extraordinarily vulnerable for their
participation with us and for their bold and decisive actions
against the cartels.
In response to that, there is a great deal of work going on
and, under Merida, some of the things that are going on are
executive protection plans and training for senior level
officials; of course, the vetting that has been discussed in
terms of the integrity and the capability of the people that we
work with; but there is also institution building, and I think
that is the long-term piece of this, is to buildup and develop
the courts and the prosecutor cadre so that they take on this
problem internally in their own country and break the impunity
of these criminal organizations is the long-term solution.
Mr. Bilbray. Mr. Chairman, I know my time has expired. I
want to point out that one of the crisis--to show you how tough
it is--to hold court, you have to hide the identity of the
judge, because they not only assassinate judges, they
assassinate families.
I am going to make a public statement. I think the Merida
Initiative should bring young people in from the central part
of Mexico and the south, bring them into the United States, we
train them here, we keep them here until they are able to do
their operations, because as soon as you identify them in
Mexico, their family and they are at risk; and as soon as you
leave them long periods of time in that environment, they are
susceptible for influence by the cartels.
So, as a layman who has worked on criminal justice issues
along the border a long time, I think we need to be serious
about bringing these young men into the United States, train
them, keep them here, and allow them to do their job in Mexico
when they need to be done, but protect them and their families
while they are doing those jobs.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it.
Chairman Towns. Thank you very much.
We are running out of time here, we have to go vote.
What can we do to assist you in making certain that you are
very successful in your endeavors? What can the Congress do? In
other words, let's switch roles for a moment.
Mr. Placido. Well, sir, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the
question. I think the first thing all the witnesses at this
table would have to say is we support the President's budget.
But clearly resource constraints are an issue that face us.
With $1.4 billion over 3 years projected in the Merida
Initiative to assist the governments of Mexico and Central
America, there has been relatively little spent on the domestic
side of this equation to help the U.S. agencies that must work
with them. We are doing the best that we can to prioritize our
resources and work within the existing budget constraints, but
it is difficult to increase the operational temp of our foreign
counterparts without a corresponding ability to do something on
the U.S. side.
Mr. Bilbray. You want to comment on the lack of jail space?
Mr. Placido. Outside of my bailiwick, sir.
Mr. Bilbray. Anybody want to comment on that? OK, for the
record, we are grossly deficient where we have to choose
winners and losers, and this is not a time to do that.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the hearing.
Chairman Towns. Thank you very much.
Just quickly for the record, DEA and ICE, you guys getting
along now? [Laughter.]
Mr. Placido. Yes, we are, sir.
Chairman Towns. We purposely put you together. Thank you
very much.
Mr. Bilbray. So you are not deporting his mother? That is
nice of him.
Chairman Towns. Let me just say, first of all, that
completes the questioning of this panel. Of course, I would
like to give the Members an opportunity to put their opening
statements in the record. Without objection, so ordered.
Let me just thank all of you witnesses and Members who
attended this hearing today. Please let the record demonstrate
my submission of a binder with the documents relating to this
hearing. Without objection, I enter this binder into the
committee record.
Without objection, the committee stands adjourned. Thank
you so much for coming.
[Whereupon, at 2:18 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]
[The prepared statements of Hon. Diane E. Watson and Hon.
Gerald E. Connolly and additional information submitted for the
hearing record follow:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]