3 intelligence forum responses

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) currently coordinates with Federal, state, and local counterparts across 223 domestic offices, as well as 86 offices in 67 foreign countries (U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration 2014, DEA-12-13). It can be safely assumed that their coordinated counter-narcotic operations can and will run into some issues. In 1996, Harold Brown and Warren Rudman wrote about how the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the DEA were essentially duplicating counter-narcotics missions around the world. They believed that this created more conflict and that it could also taint the CIA by informants involved in drug trafficking activities (Brown an Rudman 1996). Although it isn’t a huge issue today, there are still some issues with information duplication. Not only does information or operation duplication challenge the operation, it costs more money, it uses unnecessary resources, valuable time, and risks the lives of agents. Another important factor encountered when coordinating these operations is the lack of collaboration from foreign entities. Drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) will often buy off politicians or law enforcement officers, this therefore thwarts counter-narcotic operations. The fact that drug traffickers change tactics and routes definitely creates a problem in coordinating counter-narcotics operations. Many DTOs pick up on the efforts made by U.S. counter-drug and law enforcement agencies and quickly adopt and adapt to new methods.

There are many benefits to coordinated counter-narcotic operations. For example the DEA trains many of its partners, just in Fiscal year 2012; the DEA trained 49,118 state and local officers (DOJ DEA 2014, DEA-13). The DEA has also been able to share intelligence and resources with its federal and state partners. The DEA was able to aid foreign partners in developing self-sufficient, effective drug law enforcement programs. The DEA has been able to successfully coordinate counter-narcotic programs with other agencies. In 2010 it created the first-ever National Take Back Initiative in which it worked with “3,000 state and local law enforcement partners, take-back sites were established at more than 4,000 locations across the United States. [and] Approximately 121 tons of potentially dangerous drugs were collected during the one-day event” (DOJ DEA 2014, DEA-77). Counter-narcotic efforts made by agencies in the U.S. are definitely beneficial and extremely necessary.

Reference List

Brown, Harold, and Warren B. Rudman. 1996. The Role of Intelligence, in Preparing for the 21st Century. Diane Publishing, (February 23). http://fas.org/irp/offdocs/int006.html

U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration. 2014. FY 2014 Performance Budget Congressional Submission. https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/jmd/legacy/2014/02/28/dea-justification.docx.