JIATF-SWB: Building an Operational Bridge for the Southwest Border

摘要

The political, military, economic, criminal, and social difficulties brought on by the transnational nature of the illegitimate trade along the Southwest Border Area (SWBA) require a wide variety of solutions. Unfortunately, no single federal, state, local, or tribal agency has the jurisdiction or resources necessary to develop and sustain effective solutions on its own. To date, the United States' coordinated efforts to combat this problem have experienced only modest results while accruing some harsh public criticism in the process. Significant improvements in inter-agency and international cooperation must be implemented before long-term, strategic solutions can be realized. Moreover, an operational level inter-agency coordination center is desperately needed to integrate the actions of the wide range of intelligence and law enforcement agencies along the SWBA. USNORTHCOM, as a supporting agency to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), maintains the military expertise sufficient to establish and administer an operational level Joint Inter-Agency Task Force - Southwest Border (JIATF-SWB). This institution will facilitate intelligence sharing and coordinate international, federal, state, local, and tribal activities along the entire SWBA. In this endeavor, USNORTHCOM would provide essential staffing, basing, technical, intelligence, and training support to JIATF-SWB.