Posted on 09/01/2013 9:46:55 PM PDT by TexGrill
WASHINGTON – When Sen. John McCain spoke during an Armed Services Committee hearing last year on security issues in the Western Hemisphere, he relayed a stark warning about the spread of Mexican drug cartels in the United States. “The cartels,” the Arizona Republican said, “now maintain a presence in over 1,000 cities.”
McCain based his remarks on a report by a now-defunct division of the Justice Department, the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), which had concluded in 2011 that Mexican criminal organizations, including seven major drug cartels, were operating in more than 1,000 U.S. cities.
But the number, widely reported by news organizations across the country, is misleading at best, according to U.S. law enforcement officials and drug policy analysts interviewed by The Washington Post. They said the number is inflated because it relied heavily on self-reporting by law enforcement agencies, not on documented criminal cases involving drug trafficking organizations and cartels.
The Post interviewed local officials in more than a dozen cities who said they were surprised to learn that the federal government had documented cartel-related activity in their communities.
The NDIC’s headquarters in Pennsylvania was closed last year and its personnel folded into the Drug Enforcement Administration. DEA officials declined to release a list of the cities, calling it “law enforcement sensitive.”
Privately, DEA and Justice Department officials said they have no confidence in the accuracy of the list. “It’s not a DEA number,” said one DEA official. “We don’t want to be attached to this number at all.”
(Excerpt) Read more at japantimes.co.jp ...
So, you're saying I should dump my Zeta stock? That it's a bubble about to burst? /s
Yes go short on Zeta stock and long on al Qaeda stock.
It depends on what you mean by “cartel.” One thing is for certain, a large portion of the drug trafficking that used to be done by Americans 5 years ago has been taken over by Mexicans. That is a fact. I live on the Canadian border and the smuggling traffic around here is heavily Mexican now.
As long as there is a demand, there will be a chain of activity (production, transport, wholesale and retail distribution, finance and collections, security, political contributions, public relations etc.)all designed to get the desired product into the hands of willing consumers. Without the decadent demand, there would be no “drug trade”.
“The Post interviewed local officials in more than a dozen cities who said they were surprised to learn that the federal government had documented cartel-related activity in their communities.”
What the Post didn’t say is that the “officials” they spoke to were the Librarians and Dog Catchers.
When Sen. John McCain spoke during an Armed Services Committee hearing last year on security issues in the Western Hemisphere, he relayed a stark warning about the spread of Mexican drug cartels in the United States. "The cartels," the Arizona Republican said, "now maintain a presence in over 1,000 cities." ...a report by a now-defunct division of the Justice Department, the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), which had concluded in 2011... relied heavily on self-reporting by law enforcement agencies... The NDIC... was closed last year and its personnel folded into the Drug Enforcement Administration... "It's not a DEA number," said one DEA official.
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