I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3401 

To apply counterinsurgency tactics under a coordinated and targeted strategy 

to combat the terrorist insurgency in Mexico waged by transnational 

criminal organizations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 10, 2011 

Mr. MACK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Homeland Security and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by 

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To apply counterinsurgency tactics under a coordinated and 

targeted strategy to combat the terrorist insurgency in 

Mexico waged by transnational criminal organizations, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Enhanced Border Se5 curity Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. 

2 It is the purpose of this Act to protect United States 

3 citizens from external threats by establishing and applying 

4 appropriate counterinsurgency tactics under a coordinated 

5 and targeted strategy to combat the terrorist insurgency 

6 in Mexico waged by transnational criminal organizations 

7 by utilizing cross-agency capabilities to— 

8 (1) secure the United States-Mexico border 

9 through a secure border area; 

10 (2) curtail the ability of such organizations to 

11 finance their operations with United States funds in 

12 cities throughout the United States; and 

13 (3) increase the ability of the Government of 

14 Mexico to— 

15 (A) reduce violence; 

16 (B) diminish corruption; 

17 (C) improve cooperation between military 

18 and law enforcement; 

19 (D) stabilize communities; and 

20 (E) fortify functioning government institu21 tions. 

22 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

23 Congress finds the following: 

24 (1) Mexican drug cartels have evolved into 

25 transnational criminal organizations and diversified 

26 and expanded their illicit activities, including human 


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1 smuggling, trafficking in stolen oil, weapons smug2 gling, extortion, kidnapping, and cybercrime. 

3 (2) Mexican drug cartels have increased their 

4 profits through various illicit activities and have be5 come more resilient and dangerous organizations. 

6 Rough estimates of stolen oil proceeds range be7 tween $2 billion and $4 billion each year. According 

8 to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 

9 (UNODC), approximately $6.6 billion annually is 

10 generated from human smuggling from Latin Amer11 ica to the United States. 

12 (3) A July 2011 White House report found that 

13 transnational criminal organizations have expanded 

14 and matured, threatening the security of citizens 

15 and the stability of governments throughout the re16 gion, with direct security implications for the United 

17 States. 

18 (4) An August 2011 Department of Justice Na19 tional Drug Threat Assessment found that Mexican20 based transnational criminal organizations were op21 erating in more than 1,000 United States cities dur22 ing 2009 and 2010. 

23 (5) On October 11, 2011, a foiled terrorist as24 sassination plot of the Saudi Arabian Ambassador 

25 by members of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary 


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1 Guard Corps demonstrated the internationally recog2 nized threat posed by Mexican drug cartel members 

3 at the United States-Mexico border. 

4 (6) The Me ́rida Initiative, led by the Depart5 ment of State, has failed to address the evolution of 

6 the drug trafficking organizations into transnational 

7 criminal organizations, the diversification of their il8 licit activities, and the systematic implementation of 

9 insurgency tactics that undermines the Mexican 

10 state and seeks to control the political space. 

11 (7) The Me ́rida Initiative has faced implemen12 tation challenges and programmatic delays. A July 

13 2010 Government Accountability Office report high14 lighted Me ́rida Initiative delays associated with 

15 equipment deliveries as well as a lack of clear bench16 marks for programmatic success. 

17 (8) The utilization of counterinsurgency tactics 

18 will focus on isolating Mexican transnational crimi19 nal organizations from their sources of power, such 

20 as drugs, money, human resources, and weapons, 

21 while addressing both military and non-military con22 ditions and border conditions sustaining the insur23 gency, including corruption, infighting, financing, 

24 and human support. 


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1 (9) The end goal of the coordinated and tar2 geted strategy is to protect United States citizens 

3 from external threats through the empowering of a 

4 friendly and competent government that operates 

5 within international laws and regulations and is able 

6 to secure itself from internal threats. 

7 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

9 (1) TERRORIST INSURGENCY.—The term ‘‘ter10 rorist insurgency’’ means the protracted use of irreg11 ular warfare, including extreme displays of public vi12 olence utilized by transnational criminal organiza13 tions to influence public opinion and to undermine 

14 government control and rule of law in order to in15 crease the control and influence of the organizations. 

16 (2) TRANSNATIONAL CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION

17 OR ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘transnational crimi18 nal organization’’ or ‘‘organization’’ means a self19 perpetuating association of individuals who— 

20 (A) operate transnationally for the purpose 

21 of obtaining power, influence, monetary gain, or 

22 commercial gain wholly or in part by illegal 

23 means; and 

24 (B) protect their activities— 


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1 (i) through a pattern of corruption or 

2 violence; or 

3 (ii) through a transnational organiza4 tional structure and the exploitation of 

5 transnational commerce or communication 

6 mechanisms. 

7 SEC. 5. COUNTERINSURGENCY STRATEGY AND CONDITION8 ALITY. 

9 (a) COUNTERINSURGENCY STRATEGY.—Not later 

10 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

11 the Secretary of State, with the concurrence of the Sec12 retary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, 

13 the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Treasury, and 

14 the Director of National Intelligence, shall submit to the 

15 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representa16 tives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen17 ate a counterinsurgency strategy that— 

18 (1) defines and outlines the transnational crimi19 nal organizations in Mexico, their leaders, goals, ob20 jectives, evolution, key elements, and areas of influ21 ence; 

22 (2) provides an assessment of the terrain, popu23 lation, ports, financial centers, and income-gener24 ating activities utilized by transnational criminal or25 ganizations; 


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1 (3) assesses the capabilities of Mexico’s federal 

2 law enforcement, military forces, state and local gov3 ernment institutions, and other critical elements, 

4 such as nongovernmental organizations that may or5 ganize to counter the threat posed by transnational 

6 criminal organizations; 

7 (4) describes operations of, or on behalf of, 

8 transnational criminal organizations within the 

9 United States, including information on trafficking 

10 activities, financial networks, and safe havens; 

11 (5) describes operations of transnational crimi12 nal organizations at the United States-Mexico bor13 der, the Mexico-Guatemala border, and other inter14 national borders, including operations relating to 

15 contraband, human support networks, financial sup16 port, and technological advancements; 

17 (6) utilizes information obtained under para18 graphs (1) through (5) to coordinate with relevant 

19 United States agencies to address the operations of 

20 transnational criminal organizations within the 

21 United States, at the United States-Mexico border, 

22 and within Mexico to isolate such organizations from 

23 their sources of power in order to successfully com24 bat the terrorist insurgency in Mexico; 

25 (7) includes— 


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1 (A) within the United States, a plan to 

2 combat the operations, financial networks, and 

3 money laundering techniques of transnational 

4 criminal organizations, including— 

5 (i) a dramatic increase of the number 

6 of Mexican and Central American drug 

7 traffickers on the Specially Designated Na8 tionals list; 

9 (ii) a report by the Office of Foreign 

10 Assets Control of the Department of the 

11 Treasury detailing the progress of desig12 nating Mexican and Central American indi13 viduals and entities supporting such orga14 nization on the Specially Designated Na15 tionals list, as well as providing sugges16 tions to help identify areas to further im17 pact the financial networks of such organi18 zations; 

19 (iii) increasing cooperation between 

20 the Department of Justice and State and 

21 local agencies responsible for firearms law 

22 enforcement; and 

23 (iv) development of a thorough, strict, 

24 and standardized accounting procedure for 

25 keeping track of Federal grant assistance 


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1 provided to State and local law enforce2 ment agencies for border security pur3 poses; 

4 (B) at the United States-Mexico border, in 

5 coordination with the Government of Mexico 

6 and the Department of Homeland Security, a 

7 plan to address resources, technology, and in8 frastructure required to create a secure border 

9 area that establishes border security as a top 

10 priority of the Government of the United 

11 States, including— 

12 (i) doubling the number of Border Pa13 trol agents over the number in existence as 

14 of the date of the enactment of this Act, 

15 or as determined by the Secretary of 

16 Homeland Security, in a comprehensive re17 port on the best use of resources, tech18 nology, and infrastructure to secure the 

19 border; 

20 (ii) development of a plan to build ad21 ditional infrastructure to support Border 

22 Patrol activities along the border that 

23 would enhance security in hard-to-enforce 

24 areas, such as roads and tactical double 


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1 layered fencing as determined by the Sec2 retary of Homeland Security; 

3 (iii) determining technology required 

4 to support Border Patrol activities in re5 ducing unlawful movement of goods and 

6 people at the border, including cameras, 

7 radars, sensors, and unmanned aerial vehi8 cles; 

9 (iv) a report by the Attorney General 

10 that provides a policy that standardizes the 

11 threshold for prosecution of border-related 

12 offenses by the United States Attorney’s 

13 Office; 

14 (v) a plan to develop a joint United 

15 States-Mexico program to increase intel16 ligence gathering utilizing classified tech17 nologies; and 

18 (vi) increased use of Border Patrol 

19 Special Response Teams that concentrate 

20 on high-priority threats, including weapons 

21 and bulk cash smuggling, and high-po22 tency, high-cash-value drugs along the bor23 der; and 


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1 (C) within Mexico, in coordination with the 

2 Government of Mexico, the development of a 

3 multi-agency action plan, including— 

4 (i) development of strong rule-of-law 

5 institutions to provide security for people 

6 and businesses in Mexico by— 

7 (I) increasing coordination 

8 among military and law enforcement 

9 agencies focused on establishing and 

10 expanding secure areas around key 

11 population centers; 

12 (II) increasing knowledge of best 

13 practices for combating such organiza14 tions, incorporating United States 

15 military and law enforcement lessons 

16 learned, worldwide counterinsurgency 

17 experts in training programs, and as 

18 appropriate, training carried out by 

19 international law enforcement acad20 emies; and 

21 (III) securing the environment, 

22 as recommended in separate reports 

23 by the Secretary of Defense and the 

24 Director of National Intelligence; 


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1 (ii) diminish support for transnational 

2 criminal organizations by— 

3 (I) instituting programs to 

4 strengthen governance and rule of 

5 law, such as promoting a culture of 

6 lawfulness and providing incentives to 

7 United States businesses operating in 

8 Mexico that promote and support cul9 ture of lawfulness efforts; 

10 (II) developing safe communities 

11 for families and youth by enhancing 

12 and recreating successful youth pro13 grams and anti-drug coalitions, en14 hancing public education regarding 

15 the activities of such organizations, 

16 and promoting economic development; 

17 and 

18 (III) promoting the creation and 

19 enhancement of the institutions of 

20 good local governance; and 

21 (iii) neutralize transnational criminal 

22 organizations by— 

23 (I) re-evaluating threats within 

24 Mexican regions in order to assign a 

25 specialized task force to key regions 


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1 designed to concentrate on high-pri2 ority targets and separate such orga3 nizations from their sources of sup4 port; 

5 (II) requesting the support of 

6 United States military advisors to as7 sist the Mexican regional task forces; 

8 and 

9 (III) supporting Mexican federal 

10 law enforcement operations that pro11 vide services to the population while 

12 gathering raw intelligence and pro13 viding such intelligence to regional 

14 task forces; and 

15 (8) includes a report on Mexican and Central 

16 American extradition requests and extraditions car17 ried out. 

18 (b) UPDATES.— 

19 (1) OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL.— 

20 The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Depart21 ment of the Treasury shall submit to the congres22 sional committees specified in subsection (a) updates 

23 on a quarterly basis of the information required to 

24 be included in the counterinsurgency strategy under 

25 subsection (a)(7)(A)(ii). 


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1 (2) SECRETARY OF STATE.—The Secretary of 

2 States shall submit to the congressional committees 

3 specified in subsection (a) updates on a quarterly 

4 basis of the information required to be included in 

5 the counterinsurgency strategy under subsection 

6 (a)(8). 

7 (c) WITHHOLDING OF FUNDS.—Notwithstanding any 

8 other provision of law, if the Secretary of State does not 

9 submit the counterinsurgency strategy required under 

10 subsection (a) in accordance with such subsection, then 

11 20 percent of the amounts otherwise made available to the 

12 Department of State for fiscal year 2012 shall be withheld 

13 from obligation and expenditure until such time as the 

14 strategy is submitted in accordance with such subsection. 

15 SEC. 6. FUNDING FOR DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTA16 TION OF COUNTERINSURGENCY STRATEGY. 

17 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, funds 

18 made available to the Department of State for the Merida 

19 Initiative are authorized to be made available to develop 

20 and implement the counterinsurgency strategy required 

21 under section 5(a). 

Æ 


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