Pubdate: Sat, 28 Mar 2009 Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) Copyright: 2009 The Arizona Republic Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24 Author: Rob Housman COORDINATED STRATEGY NEEDED TO FIGHT DRUGS As the Obama administration struggles to deal with a host of crises, another issue demands attention: the modern-era triangle trade of drugs, violence and corruption. This illicit trade is causing instability and fueling terrorism and crime around the world. We must address this threat now. The Mexican government is losing control of swaths of territory to violent cartels. A 2008 study by the U.S. Joint Forces Command stated that Mexico faces the possibility of "sudden and rapid collapse." Drug violence is already spilling over our border. According to a report by the National Drug Intelligence Center, the cartels have a presence in 230 U.S. cities. They are kidnapping, killing and trafficking drugs across our nation. In Peru, a resurgent faction of the Shining Path is emerging as a narco-terrorist front funded by cocaine. Peruvian cocaine production is at a 10-year high. In Afghanistan, poppy cultivation continues to bankroll the insurgency. Afghanistan accounts for 92 percent of worldwide opium production and 80 percent of global heroin production. At least 40 percent of the drug proceeds end up in the hands of insurgents. A similar dynamic is at work in the border regions of Pakistan, where the extremists make money running Afghan drugs. These are not isolated threats - they are part of a global web. Al-Qaida has met with drug cartels in Mexico and elsewhere; the same infrastructure that smuggles drugs and illegals is ideally suited for moving terrorists and weapons. I first saw this web in 1999 when a bomb maker for the violent Irish Republican Army was captured in Colombia working with the narco-terrorists. The federal government is ill equipped to deal with these crosscutting challenges. The Department of Justice, namely the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI, has primary responsibility for federal counter-drug efforts. At our borders, the Department of Homeland Security (Customs and Border Protection) is in charge. None of these agencies has a major presence overseas where this threat is growing. In Afghanistan, the "boots on the ground" are those of the U.S. military. But, most international counter-drug assistance is run by the State Department. That is except for intelligence gathering, which is led by the intelligence agencies. The effect of this bureaucratic hodge-podge can be seen in Afghanistan. The State Department is undertaking poppy-crop eradication efforts. Some within the military and the CIA oppose these efforts fearing that they will drive Afghans to join the insurgency. However, the insurgents are funded by drug money. And, to the extent that Afghanistan is dependent upon a drug economy, it will never be stable. It gets complicated fast. We need a comprehensive effort to attack this global problem. Someone needs to be in charge. The president should charge the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the "drug czar," with leading the National Security Council in developing a governmentwide plan, along with region-specific strategies to respond to hotspots. The administration's new Mexico plan is a good start at the regional level. This plan must recognize that we cannot defeat extremism or reduce instability unless we attack the flow of drugs and drug money. Rob Housman, a partner with Book Hill Partners in Washington, D.C., served as assistant director for strategic planning in the White House drug czar's office from 1997 to 2001. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart