Modeling the Combined Terrorist-Narcotics Trafficker Threat to National Security

Interest in examining the relationship between drug cartels and terrorist organizations is increasing, as has been reflected in the recent congressional testimonies by leading authorities on the subject on July 7, 2011. In particular, the Hezbollah group has been alleged to be working with the Mexican drug cartels to use existing drug pipelines to penetrate the U.S. homeland. In fact, research conducted by the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research has concluded that at least two parallel terrorist networks are growing in Latin America. One is operated by Hezbollah, and another is managed by Qods operatives. These networks cooperate to carry out various criminal activities, including narcotics smuggling. The study concluded there are more than 80 operatives in at least 12 countries throughout the region, and the regions of Brazil, Venezuela, and the Southern Cone are of the greatest concern. Several reports address Hezbollah's financial ties to the contraband center of the Tri-Border region of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil, and the contributions of the Lebanese diaspora on Isle Margarita and other locations. More recently, a new case, called Operation Red Coalition, began in May 2011 when an Iranian-American from Corpus Christi, Texas, approached a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) inform ant. He was se eking the help of a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate the Saudi ambassador, according to counter-terrorism officials. The Iranian- American thought he was dealing with a member of the feared Zetas Mexican drug organization, according to agents; instead, the suspect was arrested on October 11, 2011. Terrorist organizations are working with narcotics traffickers to increase the magnitude and extent of terrorist actions. Drug-trafficking organizations (DTO) in Colombia and Venezuela and the terrorist organization FARC, of Colombia, were indicted for moving cocaine through Liberia to Europe. Considerable evidence indicates that FARC, operating on the Ecuadorian border, has developed ties to the Sinaloa cartel, which operates inside the Ecuadorian border. Also well known is that West African criminal syndicates cooperate in illicit smuggling operations with Al Qaeda operatives in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). DEA has confirmed that 19 foreign terrorist organizations have ties with DTOs. Furthermore, Taliban ties to Latin American DTOs and Hezbollah have been well established. These are a few of the drug terrorism alliances that have been reported in the literature. The case of Hezbollah's ties to the drug cartels in Mexico is somewhat controversial even with the mounting evidence from leading officials. Some experts think it is pure speculation that Hezbollah intends to launch terrorist operations against U.S. interests in the western hemisphere. One expert believes that Hezbollah is involved in mainstream Lebanese politics and has become more pragmatic and is less likely to confront the United States. A closer examination of the Mexican DTOs suggests they are loosely organized with drug production based on demand and distribution through independent providers after point of entry to the United States. DTOs are family-based with ties to the land and community. Their strong religious affiliations and lack of interest in promoting terrorism differentiates their culture from that of Hezbollah. It is well known that the Lebanese communities in Mexico are wealthy but do not have any known ties to DTOs. Because of the growing importance of this threat, the U.S. administration has released two significant documents: the National Strategy for Counterterrorism, published in June 2011, and the Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime (TCO), published in July 2011. Both of these publications address the terrorist and TCO threats separately, although linkage between the two is recognized.