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 or for the united states market unfortunately over the past few years organized crime has made mexico a major producing and trances state of illegal drugs trafficked into the u s as well as much as ninety percent of all cocaine entering the united states comes to mexico criminals  mexico are now the largest foreign suppliers a marijuana and major supplies of meth amphetamine apparently crime pays this criminal enterprise is estimated to produce annual revenues ranging from twenty five to forty b n and december two thousand and six shortly after taking office mexican president felipe a calderon began a major crackdown on the drug cartels operating in his country since then almost eleven thousand people and mexico have been killed in drug related violence almost daily reports from mexico  killings acts of torture and kidnapping and it is getting worse this past june was the deadliest month on record with over eight hundred killed in drug related violence and sean and 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 policeman soldiers judges journalists and even the 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 the 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's a front page article in today's washington post which reads mexico accused of torture and 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 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 i've cause major and have cause major disruptions to commercial activities including an 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 firsthand look at what is happening on the ground our investigators met with numerous federal state and local officials including enforcement military intelligence and others and observers feel operations in both daylight and night this hearing was designed as a follow up to the staff feel 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 two thousand capabilities to do the job required over the past two 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 though just one 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's leading the fight in afghanistan what we don't know is who is leading the fight on our own border is it the borders are is it the drugs are 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 our top representatives from key law enforcement agencies involved in the ongoing struggle to address the mexican drug trafficking the work they do is critical both to united states national security and to help in mexico and its progress to turn in 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 before i recognize my ranking member mr eisele voice over his statement i would like to thank the minority for its assistance during this investigation and all of the work related to today's hearing was conducted on a bi partisan basis i would like to thank the ranking member for his leadership and he has and staff  continue 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  opening statement thank was chairman but i would have let you go on as long as you wanted on that track as the chairman said this is a bipartisan issue and it's one in which there is no distance between the chairman and myself our staff did work closely on it and intend to continue it there's 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 one tend to continue that as chairman i ask unanimous consent that my entire opening statement be placed in the record without objection thank you and with that indulgence i'll 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's not new to dealing with border issues his work as a u s attorney his work in education his work on the airport allan the list of work is too long to do as an introduction but you've 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's right for our country so i look forward to your testimony today and and i'm particularly pleased that the border as a separate issue is getting  attention must admit that the reduction of the drugs are 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 and the fact that we pulled away two and a half years ago from plant 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 control 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're only one key assassination away from a dramatic change in mexico and that we need to understand that we need to understand that the depth of corruption in mexico which has often been well understood when it's in the hands of people with guns and willingness to use them eleven thousand or so murders this year alone says a great deal we're going to hear today about the spy spillover or lack thereof and i believe as a san diego in that people in san diego at the border the u 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're 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 would say that it's another country's problem alone i am not one of them today with former speaker denny hastert we announced it 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're 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 exit ing american checkpoint at the border over it would 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 out and if we didn't find the drugs going north where it just isn't likely to find the the guns going south having said that i look forward 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're going to really support the efforts of this administration and hold the states inputs were fueling violence on the u s mexican border at that hearing we're testimony about what factors inside the united states are contributing to the strength and cruelty of mexican drug cartels the key point that emerged in that hearing the point  explored 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 will progress needs to be made in three main areas guns cash in the demand for drugs in the united states according to some estimates as many as ninety percent of the high caliber weapons that are being used by drug cartels to perpetrate the violence we've 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 is threatens the stability of the mexican government and the safety of our own citizens in the southern border if we do not halt the flow of arms into mexico this is a significant challenge for alarm foresman and border patrol in many cases the manufacture and purchase 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 the drug trade in the rise of powerful drug cartels is the cash flow coming in from the united states we are testimony at the march hearing that as much as twenty five billion dollars in bulk cash flows into mexico from drug sales in the united states each year one of our witnesses testified the federal law enforcement is hampered by efforts to find and stop these cash flows by what he called antiquated lead it also appears 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 united states that has allowed mexican cartels to become profitable according to some estimates ninety percent of the cocaine heroin that that of that of bethany easy to say the news i suppose methamphetamine thank you and marijuana purchase and consume of the united states enters our country through mexico americans spend as much as sixty five billion dollars annually in illegal drugs there are no simple solutions to the problem but we need to recognize that  internal drug policies in us excessive curbing the use of these illegal substances in the united states can have a profound effect on the stability of our neighboring countries in our own national security before closing i also want to note that there is a global problem not simply an issue in the united states mexican border after the march hearing we had testimony the cocaine from mexican cartels is now headed to europe into russia in addition mexican in colombia drug cartels have made inroads in west africa shared border with mexico makes the situation their particular concern to chairman and mr millimeter say as a lifelong resident of the frontier 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're nor in our own backyard where fatalities were skyrocketing where the death rate among law enforcement just south of our from our border was was far beyond anything we'd seen anywhere else in the world and we just sort of ignored it because it wasn't the on the radar screen for the media i wan apologize to the other two gentlemen because i've got to make a mention of my my friend and who i've got to say the ministration there are disagreements i have but when it comes to the choice of our our guy over in san diego in the western sector no one could have been a better choice and then alan and i want to thank him for being willing to serve again because as everyone knows it's not an easy job you knew what you were stepping into and we don't have time for a learning curve here and i want to thank the administration for bringing the man back on line mr chairman the one thing that i've discussed 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're talking about not only drugs going north but we're talking about guns and money coming south and the same cartel is involved in the legal alien smuggling it's all a network and a profiteering in fact i've grown up in an area where we got in the habit of saying illegals being used as the mules 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 it when we talk about this issue they're all tied together the cartels have control the border and the legal crossing for much too long and i'm glad to see us address this i'm also glad to see this hearing because too many people on our side of border think this is a problem that is across the border and it's not cross not going to be a threat to the american communities this is a major threat for all of us along the front area on both sides of the border and i hope i'm able to get you photos that i don't think will show in public but just so the members understand how bad this is when a hospital in my county has walking in with two fingers and say is there any way to preserve these things or so that when we get the hostages back we can sew them back on when you've got law enforcement that fines to let me just say the remnants of the this is the kind of thing that we are having going on in our neighborhoods not just in tijuana but in santa san diego county region it is crossing over and now's the time to win this battle and working with mexico working with calderon and i say one thing president calderon is the bravest elected official i have ever known and i think that we got to give credit to him and we've got to for all side our disagreements with mexico and work with them now because we either fight this battle on mexican soil and when it or we'll go testifying on 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 united states department of justice and mr alan bersin who've been praised all morning here you know what you know that office of international affairs the united states department of homeland security let me in the katyn hear the bells but we're going to go as far as we can them is let me just we all of you in raise your thank you mr chairman i'm honored to be with you and certainly ranking ranking member i saw all of the committee members that are here today and last month secretary napolitano attorney general holder and i publicly released the strategy that was referenced by the chairman comprehensive interagency plan that was developed by through the work of the office of national drug control our office and it was done and in a way that ensured all of the partners that you see here today  being actively involved in it this is a plan that's not going to sit on a shelf and gather dust and it's being put into action even as we speak and it's being done and partnership also with the courageous and dedicated work of mexico's president calderon the investments that the united states 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's 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 the strategy and that framework is being developed will provide a public report on the implementation 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 responsibility is 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 programatic efforts and their budget proposals over the coming months so in d c p 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 agency's update their strategic plans will be working with o m b 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's essential that we work together as one team to stop the flow of drugs into our country as well as the southbound flow of ball currency and weapons that fuel drug cartel violence and 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'm looking forward to working with this committee and i know that part of the focus that you have certainly identified  on accountability and we're very prepared to answer that before i close i want to take 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 haida directors told me and what i believe the members of this committee already know is that our frontline state and local law enforcement partners have been under enormous strain bill lansdowne in san diego bill colander the retiring sheriff of fifty plus years of law enforcement i have been friends for many years so i listen 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 that affected us in seattle during the nine 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 would comes to the critical challenge of interdicting the southbound flow of weapons and whole currency partnership with those agencies is essential and i think i can be of great value in that state and local law enforcement personnel on match and 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 skilled 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 thank you very much mr brewer chairman counting ranking member ice and members of the committee i appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the department of justice is 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 increasing violence in mexico this issue commands priority the highest level of the department's leadership as you know on june fifth attorney general holder or department of homeland security secretary in a polyp tondo an office of national drug control policy director  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 burson and our many federal state local tribal and mexican partners to ensure success of the administration's strategy that apartment the justice department plays a central role in supporting the national southwest border counternarcotics strategy to departments 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 tackling other major criminal enterprises destroying the leadership and seizing the financial infrastructure of the cartels is critical to dismantling them stemming the flow those flow of guns and money from the united states to mexico is an important aspect of the administration's comprehensive approach to the  problem certain 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 merit initiative including serving as the lead implementor in prosecutorial capacity building asset forfeiture extradition training and forensics we continue to work closely with mexico to 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 thread 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 south bound 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 multinational operations targeting the single lower 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 burson 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 to get with our colleagues at zero and d c p n d h s 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 and to refresh our strategies the recently signed m o used between d e i and ice and between a t f 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 say ten minutes after the last vote just in case we run into some problems along the floor but i think we should be back in an hour and so that time we will continue with you mr bersin we have to vote around here the committee thank you for this opportunity of 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  with which i'm familiar having served as the southwest border representative for the department of justice one nine hundred ninety five to one nine hundred ninety eight since my appointment to d h s s in mid april i've traveled to the border into mexico five 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 is 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 u s mexican border and within mexico itself it is indeed a crisis though and using that word i note that the chinese word for crisis is written in mandarin by combining two characters the characters for danger and opportunity our current crisis certainly presents most of 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 derivative le to the united states the power of the cartels is alarming they've polluted the political system of mexico they've corrupted the legal system the second element of danger is that competition among the cartels along the mexican along with the mexican government's attempts to combat them have led to unprecedented violence in the northern states of mexico from tama leap us to baja california resulting reportedly in more than eleven thousand deaths in the last three and a half 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 car els and second to willingly confront the stark reality of systematic corruption that exists in mexican law enforcement the united states government has been told as well starting with the unqualified acceptance the consumption of drugs on the us 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 to wins 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 d h s s along with d o j and the government of mexico that would have been unthinkable ten years ago and even unsayable three years ago the h s 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 twenty fourth 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 d h s s also taken steps to deepen our relationship with partner agencies in the government of mexico on june fifteenth for example secretary  signed a letter of intent with mexican finance secretary augustine correspondents to guide the cooperative efforts of c b p ice and mexican customs d h s components also of work to broaden the bilateral relationship in information and intelligence sharing as well and 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 borders are in my current job the security threat on the border is certainly intensified with regard to the activities of the drug another smuggling cartels that dot the border however i know 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 v h s provides a significantly better resourced 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 secondly and genuinely i've been impressed by the extent of cooperation that i've witnessed among our federal agencies exemplified and by in the relationship but director kerlikowske and assistant attorney general brewer and i have forged in short order this is particularly to the long term vehicle for expanded cooperation between us mexican law enforcement agencies mr chairman ranking member i see has it is 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 u s mexican relationships and the prospects for building on that cooperation to deal with mexican quartiles drug cartels we went to war against the mexican drug cartel mr chairman we are that's 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's operation accelerator project reckoning where we have systematically gone investigated and prosecuted the cartels we've taken enormous blows we have extracted enormous blows against the sin allow cartel against the gulf cartel we have higher levels of extraditions of drug kingpins than ever before so we're making very effective very effective strategies with respect to intelligence based investigations and prosecutions that's not to suggest for a moment we don't have more to do but the battles among the cartels themselves are showing that the pressure that we're putting on them in unison and in alliance with  power of the cartels on the government of mexico and therefore turn again from what is currently a national security threat into a more conventional law enforcement a criminal justice problem and measured by that standard i think we have a ways to go but i'm in accord with mr brewer that for the reasons that he stated that we are making up progress and that it's measurable progress and that we can in fact intensify what we're doing and that we can continue to see a weakening of the cartel power which now is alarmingly high as i said my statement it is been indicated that the president is presented as a national guard troops to the border in support of law enforcement the u s 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 the end mr chairman the mission of the decision is a is a function of a presidential decision and i'm confident that in due course one the implications for u s national security should the calderon administration failed in its efforts to take on the mexican drug cartels what are the stakes for both mexico and the united states 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 s collaboration to ensure that we do everything we can to support the president lot i'm in agreement and secretary napolitano is having heard her refer to this window of opportunity to the extent that we're not able to weaken the influence of the cartels on the mexican political system  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 the 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's so important that we use this window of opportunity with the calderon administration to weaken the power of these criminal organizations these smuggling 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 and in currency well then you return then you're building up a new clientele base we in the united states have to be willing and i've already looked at providing resources that work awful lot of drug charges that they were involved in the mules they carried can you give us your opinion of current law particularly thirteen twenty six thirteen twenty four some of the penalties that you have or let me rephrase that at the u s attorney at the border have border areas have as tools today and are they sufficient mr eyes are you you raise an important point particularly in this area in which the sharp division that used to exist between alan smuggling organizations and drug smuggling organizations has been blurred in part by the efforts of the brewer described the pressure being brought on the cartels by u s and forstmann but didn't portly by mexican enforcement but also by the recessionary economy so we begin to see a blurring of those lines and i believe us certainly speaking from the perspective of ten years ago the series of us statutes of available to prosecutors and and i will six and thirteen twenty five which of course is a misdemeanor work well thirteen twenty four which is the penalties for alien smugglers is something that ten years ago was believed to require review and i i submit regardless of of how we we we come out on it it could stand a further review at this point basically what i'm trying to get to is we've had a challenge at the border that i've observed which is that the first several times that you catch a trafficker each gets treated almost as an amateur like he just happened to be stumbling over the border by mistake it's sixty days and out time served the second time isn't much more and we've had cases of dozens and dozens of times in which we cannot get some sometimes because of statute we can't get the kind of enforcement do you believe 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 bill to have upper limits have the lower limits raised and or at least give them the ability to have tougher sentences even on the first or second time you catch a trafficker regardless of whether you can actually catch him with the  drugs thank you congressman i definitely think it's 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 attorney such as what secretary burson was when he was the remarkably attorney in san diego i think we need to give our u s attorneys particularly in the senate southwest border states the discretion in the tools so that they can effectively and comprehensively deal with the issue but i don't think candidly that there's one size fits all and i think we have to give our u s attorneys in those areas the discretion to prioritize because of course as we were going to charge under one aspect of the law such as this we have to then ensure that we have appropriate facilities whether it's prison facilities and other facilities and let me go back through that chart 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 human beings that you don't have the capacity today to incarcerate every single one of those people  significant period of time i think that there would be traffic 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 short of that is an alternate in other words if you turn on your the rest of your cartel we will not lock you up for ten years that's a powerful tool if you turn on your court cartel or you're going to spend sixty days in the hoosegow somehow i don't think that's a powerful tool so the reason i'm asking for this is threefold first of all should we have it and mr gerson was more tending to say he wouldn't mind having the stronger tools at his disposal and at the judge's disposal to to use that as a tool of in car of 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 i have to be sensitive to the limited time i would like it if you'd look at it from that standpoint because we're the committee on oversight and reform and we're 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 congress and i think you've identified exactly  a very eloquent way the issue we absolutely as a component of this ought to have comprehensive immigration reform there's just absolutely no question and secondly 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 thanks very much and i yield to gentleman from massachusetts thank you gentlemen i do we fully appreciate the amount of corruption in the depth of the corruption that's involved with the large amount of my any that is indicate is involved this is going into mexico in the reports that we see about questions of police departments corruption in the military closure of the judicial system what are we doing about what can we do about that what are we doing about it and what confidence do you have that we're going to get a grip on that because without taking the profit out of this thing and deal with that money we're just spinning our wheels right congressman it's an enormous challenge you're absolutely right one of the effective tools that we do have and that we hope to do more is our ability through merit and other initiatives to to work with and train law enforcement in mexico we're making great strides with respect to training vetted units unit said we have a lot of well i'm talking about the police you would agree there's a significant amount of fear most police officers right there now no matter how much you train them 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 and that's why it's such an enormous challenge but there are many courageous law enforcement in mexico and these that are units are good representation of the dollars there are a lot of people there but don't we have to do something about the money but the cash i mean if  stop the profit we stop the cash we're a long way along on this planet we think so tell me what are we what are your thoughts about the importance of disrupting the cartels drug activity by seizing the money and what we're going to do to do that well you're right and i defer to my colleagues here as well but of course what we are doing is from the law enforcement point of view of course it's just part of we have unparalleled levels of for for chair and seizure of the of the profits and the  money and the and the and the possessions of the cartel members and frankly one of our one of our training programs is to teach and incorporate even in mexico the same concept of four for cheer and seizure and there  have to do that back further back the line is diverse and i'm sorry congressman the one of the changes that's taken place recently is the frank knowledge meant on our end of the bargain that the consumption of drugs in this country that generates to trafficking organizations the kinds of sums of money that the corrupted mexican politics and its its legal system is something that will continue until we get a better handle on reducing secretary place a heavy emphasis on that does so i see that but but there's still at least in the interim until we all have a heavy have it on that is going to be the cash the cash going south is again another departure that's been made by secretary having c b p in 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 and we may not have the infrastructure there to really be effective on that so again what are going to do about the infrastructure there to make sure that we have southbound steady impact on that and then further back the line because that's how we get to the border with the tunnels that i hope to get t we need to continue assess the effectiveness of that particularly to see this is a bridge to the mexican capacity to conduct its inspections which is now building up again for matamoros on the east two to one on the west we need assess that whether or not we should be making a major investment in infrastructure to have two southbound checks one u s and one mexican is one that certainly is on the table but i think we need to learn a lot more about  further back so the chief with me is get to the south was border no question what aggressively we're going to do that there is a lot of progress there a couple things that are being done besides those increased searches at the border they're 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's  one part the other the high intensity drug trafficking areas in twenty places around the united states their mission is to disrupt and dismantle those drug trafficking organizations often they have their roots 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're not just stopping the bulk cash at the border you're stopping the bulk cash in seattle in california and other places and there is progress there's more training being done in that in treasury finn's than is working very hard under the new credit card act to develop ways of looking at the the use of just a card that's to carry thousands of dollars of there's a lot more to be done but there's a lot of progress on that front choking off the money is the key thanks to gentleman from illinois and let's quickly  chairman jim and i know the issue of the national guard was raised broadly earlier is it accurate there are about five hundred national guardsmen in the southwest border as we speak are there are a compliment of national guard that have been gauged in a ongoing project that's been in existence for more than two decades in support of law enforcement  activities and i believe that that that number is is is one that i need to i need to confirm i do know that most of the guardsmen are actually away from the border and gauged in  intelligence analysts ical activities and the like but i'll need to confirm whether it's four hundred or some smaller number that are actually physically on the border today well two follow ups the first would be the the activities that they're completing as you talk about do they relate to these drug cartel activities the counter drug program that's been in existence for two decades and that i'm very familiar with from my time as  a prosecutor in the ninety's is definitely counterdrug in nature that's the basis the congress has authorized the activity and these are activities that involve supporting a law enforcement in a variety of ways that are consistent with the division between law enforcement in the military that served this country well over the years you've probably read about press accounts that discuss the possibility of the administration increasing this number of national guardsmen perhaps to another fifteen hundred is it is that your understanding or is that still in the planning visitors all in the in the discussion stage as i indicated congressman between  secretary gates and together they intend to make a joint recommendation to the president who will love who retains and will make the final decision ok an excuse me if this is been discussed because i were between votes in two committees here but  we have had in previous hearings such as this discussions about the conflicts between d n a and i see ice and i understand there has been an agreement that was signed on this what understanding i think it's 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 i cindy a can work together i designated to her 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 my cindy and other law enforcement is shared together so comprehensively and effectively can be used to go after the cartels and there's perhaps an information loop that will follow back to make sure that that continues to be the case there is and there's a great commitment there's a very great commitment by d a and ice homeland security and the department of justice to ensure that that will happen  assistant director placido from the d a can as well congressman time permitting i guess the third point being the we often hear this figure that ninety percent of the guns confiscated in this conflict come from the united states given that we're not necessarily tracing all those guns perhaps a fraction of them how we determining that figure well well i think congressman there  the precise number may be a little bit hard to identify it's of course you're absolutely right of those guns recovered for which one can trace i think that number that you have identified is the number that has  that has been said and i think that's right i think the larger issue is that it is inescapable that a very large percentage of the gazans that are in mexico today do in fact come from the united states  together are are joining with our friends in mexico to combat the battle that's one of the issues that we all have to confront here ourselves why aren't more guns traced  of the intricacies there but of course when possible a good number of them have been traced but i think he'll be in a better position than i to tell you some of the challenges that a t f has found and i appreciate that and we'll have a second pair on the 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 same out i my automatic weapons and so it's a lot easier to control them that are not being so journalist time is expired young woman from washington d c well i'd like to pick up where the gentleman left off i was frankly embarrassed by the performance of our country when the episodes terrible episodes of armed conflict some thought might even bring down the government that may have been somewhat exaggerated here was the president trying to fight the gun cartels and guess who was supplying us and turns out not only were are we not configured to find these guns even with the most elementary and inspection capacity but keystone cops fashion when that this country would have been so central to the supply of guns when the when which which was were in such plentiful supply  that it was well take an army that the got that government itself was up against not just a bunch of thugs they had so much weaponry  far more interested is that we know we're not doing much once you at guns we know it doesn't take much to get them to mexico i'm far more interested 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 has where these guns come from  how were they able to pick them up in such large numbers how they're able to get out what amounts to enough guns to arm of virtual small army many of them from the united states and we're godless of the figures and they and the notion that well a lot of them came from x y or z you know exactly where they came from mr brewer and while you might not be able to trace them you have law enforcement jurisdiction in the united states of america and why are you keeping these guns from making either board or otherwise in such large numbers so that they now are arm a small army in another country it is extremely embarrassing and mexico has been i think very 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 it's own assault weapon ban well 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 and so it looks like all you've got to do is get some guns and you'll get them across the border very easily and nobody in the united states is doing very much to keep dogs from saying that there are people who are working very hard our a t f agents are doing an extraordinary job with their resources congress what are they doing up there in the guns who is selling the guns or who are guns coming from i think they're coming from a lot of places congresswomen i think they're coming from licensed firearm dealers where you have straw purchasers and the power of these cartels is extraordinary and they as you know they're there reaches grade and so we have to dismantle those cartels but some are coming from license farm dealers sell in the southwest border is there nothing you can do about those coming well there are a t f agents are doing a lot but they have limited resources congresswoman what are they doing what are they doing there visiting the lice they're going to these licensees there they're doing inspections are caught by doing any undercover work yes they are congressmen they're doing a lot and they're sharing it with lots of agencies so it's not fair to be critical of our agents with the resources that they have they're doing extraordinary jobs and every day they're serving the american people well acritical i'm i'm critical of your leadership sir i don't know about your agents and i love the a t f but i'm talking about what it takes to dismantle the  the gun cartel in this country and that is that is not only enabling but making possible well young woman time has expired let me first  thank you for your testimony and again apologize for the late but you know i'm just wondering if you could hold the record open if you can get some information for us you know the rest rate which seems to be very aggressive in terms of what's happening in mexico but could you get us with summation on the convictions you know it's one thing the make a lot of arrests but i want to know in terms of we can get some information in terms of the percentage in terms of  you very very much thank you very much let me introduce our second panel of witnesses anthony p c though desist an administrator for intelligence drug enforcement administration u s department of justice welcome acting deputy assistant commissioner office of seal operations u s customs and border protection u s department of homeland security mr william hoover assistant director of field operations the bureau of alcohol tobacco firearms and explosives united states department of justice and mr robert no j robert make brian associate director of investigation of the force ms office  foreign assets control the quiet man of the treasury gentlemen it is our committee policy of course that five minutes for your presentation and then you allow us an opportunity to raise questions with you also like to express my gratitude to the congress for its continued support of the mission and people of c b p among the numerous priorities that were reckon i in the american recovery and reinvestment act of two thousand and nine congress provided c b p with six hundred eighty million dollars for greatly needed  improvements to our aging infrastructure at our ports of entry to enhance our technical communications equipment and upgrade our non intrusive inspection technologies this funding will allow c b p to more efficiently meet our twin goals of border security and facilit s 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 compan of violence being waged by drug cartels in mexico remains a major concern the legal 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 c b p's office of field operations is responsible for implementing the strategy at our ports of entry we in c b p field operations have taken significant action on the southwest border have a hand star outbound enforcement efforts th of additional manpower equipment and technology on a regular and recurring basis teams of c b p officers c b p border patrol agents special agents from ice and other federal agencies along with our state and local law enforcement partners a now conducting outbound inspections at our ports of entry with a focus on inner dicked and firearms and currency heading into mexico c b p as mobile response teams are also quickly utilized to shift personnel between the ports of entry to further disrupt o 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 c b p free of operations currently deployed two hundred twenty seven large scale inspection systems to our ports of entry ninety one of which are along the southwest border many of these systems are mobile and which can and are being used in our outer found interdiction efforts as well and c b p is again grateful for the hundred million dollars in stimulus funding which will allow us to upgrade our and i systems were also the point 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 virginia and these detection tools will again allow our officers to quickly scan the southbound traffic looking for bulk cash currency and firearms and we are seeing the success of these increased outbound interdiction efforts since c b p began these initiatives with our partners on march twelfth have seized more than fifteen point eight million dollars in illicit currency destined for mexico we are also pursuing activities which increased support and collaboration with our mexican counterparts at u s 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 u s heading into mexico chairman towns ranking member isa members of the committee thank you for your support to c p s had and meeting many of our border security responsibilities i thank you for the opportunity to be here this afternoon be happy to address any of your questions exam much for your testimony mr owens mr kimball chairman towns ranking member eissa and distinguished members of the committee on behalf  secretary napolitano and assistant secretary morton i'd like to thank you for the opportunity to discuss ice's role in securing the border through the investigation in forstmann of the nation's immigration and customs laws as the primary investigative agency within d h s s 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 d a and these agreements will improve and enhance information sharing and promote effective coordination with violence along our southwest border requires a comprehensive and collaborative effort on march the twenty fourth the departments of homeland security justice and state announced the south drugs and currency compared to the same time period in two thousand and eight during the period between the march announcement and the june june twenty third of this year ice and c b p together have increased our katic send us currency seizures by over forty percent ice continues to work with its federal partners to collaborate in various ways for example in two thousand and five d h s created the border enforcement security task force the fifteen best are a series of ice led multi agency task forces that identify disrupt and dismantle criminal organizations posing significant threats to border security since two thousand and five the best ever ported over four thousand criminal arrests and seize over two hundred thousand pounds of narcotics over twenty five hundred weapons and over three hundred  seventy thousand rounds of ammunition including twenty six million dollars in u s currency and monetary instruments one recent success story as exemplified through a joint best investigation between ice a t f and the el paso police department which led to the indictment of four individuals attempting to purchase illegally export weapons and ammunition out of the united states the weapons they attempted to purchase and smuggle included three hundred a ar fifteen rifles three hundred short barrel two two three caliber rifles ten barrett fifty caliber sniper rifles two forty millimeter grenade machine guns and twenty hand guns 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 bass along the southwest border from ninety five to one hundred ninety this greatly expands our ability to work with state 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 war 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 two thousand and eight ice along with c b p and other six individuals in addition to addressing weapons smuggling ice has partnered with c b p 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 two hundred ten million dollars including over sixty five million cs overseas and four hundred seventy five arrests ice also released recently establish 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 and cooperating countries exchange important export data and financial information these efforts have led to more than fifty million dollars in cash seized during the last fiscal year we proactively attack groups and gauging human smuggling and trafficking by initiating investigations beyond the borders ice is a major participant in supporter of the inner agency human smuggling and trafficking center which targets human smugglers traffickers and terrorist travel facilitators we've identified various methods and routes used by criminal networks to smuggle people into the us to target these methods and routes ice in partnership with d o j form the extraterritorial criminal travel strike force in june of two thousand and six combining our investigative prosecutorial and intelligence resources to target disrupt and dismantle foreign based criminal travel networks complimentary to the e c t program is the pivotal role ice continues to play as a co chair of the targeting project of the interim see 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'd be pleased answer any questions you may have thank you very much jim it's a cable mr proceed oh thank you mr chairman chairman ranking member eissa i appreciate the opportunity to represent the views of the drug enforcement administration  important issue regarding the rise of criminality in mexican cartels and their implications for u s national security please mike this is a close as the lead agency f  forcing the drug laws of the united states d e a s 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 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 the 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 merit initiative are bringing unprecedented pressure against these cartels and helping fortify mexico's criminal justice system to do 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 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 chairman but the i'd ask unanimous consent that he be placed in the record but not shown because they are literally too gruesome i think for the safest cities in america drug related killings in mexico have escalated from approximately twelve hundred in two thousand and six to more than sixty two hundred in two thousand and eight and during the first six months of this year there's been an approximately thirty six hundred putting it on power to exceed last year's numbers in the past the violence was largely confined to persons engaged in the drug trade but there's 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 and 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 interest in see has attempted to distinguish between the criminal and 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 and u s government personnel whether in the us or mexico innocent civilians in the us or us go i meant facilities including our embassies and consulates based on this definition we have not yet seen a significant level of spillover violence however 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 the it continues to work in cooperation with its federal state local and foreign counterparts to address these threats organizational attack strategy is an attempt to systematically disrupt and dismantle the command and control elements of these criminal syndicates key to the strategy of sharing information and coordination with our counterparts through the special operations division the o c the fusion center and the el paso intelligence center in mexico da has the largest us law enforcement presence and its partnership with the calderon administration in mounting sustained attacks against these cartels the disruption and dismantling of these organizations the denial of proceeds and the seizure of their assets significantly impact the ability these cartels to exercise influence and further destabilize the region projects reckoning and operation accelerator 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'd also like to address an issue of concern that was recently highlighted by the g a o pertaining to collaboration cooperation between ice and the 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 d a s unwavering support for the recently signed interagency cooperation agreement between the a and ice both secretary napolitano and attorney general holder have made clear that this agreement is the most efficient and effective way to promote inner agency coordination 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 twenty one of us to give authority and also strengthens information sharing and coordination protocols chairman towns ranking member reisa members of the committee i thank you for the opportunity to testify and stand ready to answer questions thank you very much for your testimony  mr hoover thank you sir chairman towns congressman bilbray and other distinguished committee 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 it discuss a t s ongoing role of disrupting firearm from being illegally trafficked from the united states into mexico and working to reduce the associated violence along the border for over thirty years a 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 explosives industries and enforcing the criminal criminal laws relating to those commodities a t f has the experience expertise and commitment to investigate and disrupt groups and individuals who have trained guns in the us and illegally trafficked them into mexico and facilitation of the drug trade x expertise specific statutory and regulatory authority analytical capability and strategic partnerships is used to combat farms trafficking both along the u s borders and throughout our nation we know we do not fight this battle alone last week a t f hosted a violent crime an arms trafficking summit in albuquerque new mexico this conference was monumental in establishing a formal partnership between a t f 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 s strategy for disrupting the flow of farms to mexico through project gunrunner has referred over eight hundred eighty two cases for prosecution involving one thousand eight hundred thirty eight defendants those cases include four hundred and fifteen for fir trafficking which involved one thousand one hundred thirty five defendants and an estimated thirteen thousand three hundred and eighty two firearms a t f this said that ninety percent of the firearms seized in mexico and traced come from the united states the g a o report that was follistim in june of two thousand and nine concurred with our findings we have established that the greatest proportion of firearms traffic to mexico originate out of the states along the southwest border additionally trace data shows th are also acquiring firearms from other states as far east as florida and as far north and west as washington state that this isn't that this only mexican officials have seen an increase in the number of explosive devices used in these violent attacks f 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 a t f project gunrunner includes approximately one hundred forty eight special agents dedicated to investigating firearms trafficking want to full time basis in fifty nine industry operations investigators responsible for conducting regulatory inspections of federally licensed gun dealers known as f f l's we recently sent over one hundred additional personnel to the houston field of vision to support our efforts against the trafficking of firearms to mexico in addition a t f has received a total of twenty five million dollars in new funding in fiscal year two thousand and nine and fiscal year two thousand and ten for project gunrunner as the sole agency that regulates fell's roughly seven thousand of which are along the southwest border a t f has a statutory authority to inspect and examine the records and him and torrie of li looking for firearms trafficking trends and patterns and revoking the license of those who are complicit in firearms trafficking for instance a t f uses regulatory authority to review the records of n f l that received close to two thousand firearms removed their  numbers and trafficked into mexico with the aid of coke coconspirator located in mexico a key component of a t f strategy to curtail farms trafficking to mexico is the tracing of firearms seized in both countries our analysis of this aggregate trace data can reveal trafficking trends in that works showing where the guns are being purchased and who was purchasing them let me share an example of how trace data can identify farms trafficking a t s analysis of a trace data link the man living in  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 one hundred a ar fifteen type receivers and seven additional firearms within a short time span using nine different f l wholesale distributors as sources for the guns in april two thousand and eight a t f seized eighty firearms from the suspect and learned that he was manufacturing guns in his home he sold over one hundred guns alone to an individual who is suspected of being linked to a cartel investigative leads are being pursued and charges are pending lastly i would like to mention s operational events at the el paso intelligence center located in el paso texas epic is certainly one of the most valuable tools for intelligence sharing and coordination the multi agency efforts to curb violence in farms tracked trafficking activities along the southwest bor at epic we operate what is known as the a t f gun deaths 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 had a t f will continue with our efforts along the southwest border and will harvest our partnerships with not only our law enforcement partners within the u s but will continue to work with the mexican officials in mexico to obtain more information to better understand the flow of farms from our country into there's chairman towns congressman bilbray and other distinguished members of the committee on behalf of the men and women of a t f i thank you and your staff  continued support of our crucial work with the backing of this committee a t f can continue to fight violent crime in the nation's cities and on the border making our nation even more conserve i look forward to your questions thank you very much for your testimony this  i mr chairman mr bilbray other members of the committee i'm pleased to be here today on behalf of the office of foreign assets control of the treasury department i will try to compress this statement as we go through it for the interest of time and so that we can get into the questions and answers they're also foreign assets control is mission is to enforce economic sanctions in support of u s foreign policy and national security in the particular instance of mexico we're talking about using the tool of the for narcotics kingpin designation act which congress passed in one nine hundred ninety nine the can can act it's been used in responding to the threat in mexico since the year two thousand when the first king pins were named by at that time president bush and we've continued use of since that time so ofac the involvement in the fight against the drug trafficking organizations in mexico is not something new it's something we've been doing even with the small resources that we have authorities delegated to ofac our national security and foreign policy tools that provide power and leverage against a foreign country regime or non state actors such as for narcotics traffic one of our most powerful instruments especially the specially designated nationals list or sdn list is used to identify expose isolate and disrupt or incapacitate foreign adversaries with the intended result of denying them access to the u s financial and commercial system and in mobilizing their resources or facts authorities or ministry of a nature but for persons subject to u s jurisdiction violating novak sanctions curry's both civil and criminal penalties every year since the kingpin act was passed the presidents of the united states has added more kingpins to the list these are kingpins are across the world it's not only mexico although mexico is roughly fifty percent of those that have been named this year president obama moved from the usual june one date in which the statute asked that there be report made and acted early in our april fifteenth named tier one traffickers ofac has been delegated the authority to designate for sanctions those working for on behalf of our own are controlled by materially assisting the tear one traffickers now this is the real meat the counter narcotics sanctions these two year twos which we also call derivative designations include the money launderers the family members complicit in arcot extract a king activities the criminal members of the organization the cetacean cells the logistics for cumin and communication cells that make up the financial and support networks of drug trafficking organizations since nine hundred ninety nine the president has identified eighty two tier one traffickers thirty seven of which are mexican in that same time ofac has identified two hundred fifty one to or two designations in mexico we have also under the colombian program in recent times named thirty 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 two hundred eighty eight persons entities and individuals that have been named by ofac for the blocking of their assets in the prohibition on their activities  i'm going to skip through parts of this and just get down to some of the nitty gritty here i said of at the outset that our objective is tied at identifying expose and isolate india legitimize 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 in the organizations and perhaps most important in this again goes back to the media and the networks the keynotes 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 they 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 soul of the gentleman economy through our actions at the same time that we're doing this we're working collaboratively with all of our colleagues say all of the agencies that are at this table  working with ofac in these projects we have relied on and are heavily integrated with d n a 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're 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 acting against the threat to the us posed by four narcotics cartels whether in mexico or elsewhere in the case of our southern neighbor ofac some point one of the camping act authorities provides a growing opportunity for partnership  combating the scourge of the drug trafficking organizations it is a full force multiplier it presents opportunities not only supportive efforts by d n a and other us criminals but i'm happy to ask you to summarize a map to ask you to summarize yes or not actually what i'm doing right now sir but we're also supporting mexican authorities it's an important element in achieving a unity of effort among us federal state and i'm really saying is your five minutes is up 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 you know what do we say to the average person out you know that we have gets concerned about what's happening in mexico you know how do we really explain that needs to  kimball probably you know how do we explain to them our interests and our concerns certainly sir it's 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 immigration for irrigation and agriculture were closely intertwined and the 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 let me ask yes go ahead mr kimball 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 national security the introduction national security threats into into the homeland so for those for those reasons from the ice perspective and the cross border criminal network perspective we need to to leverage all of our efforts collectively to shut down these networks i yield to the g talk enough about and we have traditionally rico provisions here and anybody jump into this they're requiring viable identification at the time that any individual opens a bank account the previous administration not only did not enforce it but indorsed bank accounts being opened with less than secure identification we know exactly what i'm talking about are we doing anything to shut down that opportunity to have thousands of bank accounts open to where we really don't know who open those accounts are we going back and addressing these issues where we're requiring now a viable id be the issue before we open an account the way it used to be before the previous administration anybody want to prove that you are who you said you want to be and not only where 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 i d why how the law if we're not going to apply it to everybody so i raise it what are we doing with the merit initiative i'm 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 and we talk about this openly and how we're cooperating and how we're training and how we're supplying mexico to win the war and their soil before it gets stars certainly sir excellent question i think as was said on the first panel there was concern that  think it was characterized as we're one assess nation away from having the america plan fail i don't know that i'd go that far but i would certainly say that the the mexican partners with whom we work are extraordinarily vulnerable for their participation with us and for their their bold and decisive actions against the cartels in response to that there is a great deal of work going on and under america some of the things that are going on or executive protection plans and training for senior level officials of course the vetting that's been discussed in terms of the integrity and the capability of the people that we work with but there is there is also institution building i think that's the long term piece of this is that to to build up and develop the courts and the in 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 m chairman i know my time is expired i want to point out that one of the crisis just show you how tough it is to hold court you've got to hide the identity of the judge because they not only assassinate judges they assassinate families and i want to make a public statement i think the should bring young people in from the central america central part of mexico into south bring them into united states we train them here we keep them here until they go do their hit that be 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 a long periods of time in that environment they're susceptible for employment by the cartels and so if as a layman who's worked on crime criminal justice issues along the border long time i think we need be serious about bringing these young vote what can we do you know to assist you and making certain that you are very successful in your endeavors what can the congress do other with one point four billion dollars over three years projected in the merit 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's difficult to increase the operational tempo of our foreign counterparts without a corresponding ability to do something on the united states side you want to comment on the lack of jail space outside of my bill or if i want to comment on that again for the record i mean we're grossly deficient where we've got to we purposely put you together thank you very much are you not x you're not deporting his mother that's nice let me say first of all that completes the questioning of the panel