Top General Says Mexico Border Security Now âExistentialâ Threat to U.S.
July 5, 2014
by Molly O'Toole
A top United States general in charge of protecting the southern border says heâs been unable to combat the steady flow of illegal drugs, weapons and people from Central America, and is looking to Congress for urgent help.
Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, commander of U.S. Southern Command, has asked Congress this year for more money, drones and ships for his mission â a request unlikely to be met. Since October, an influx of nearly 100,000 migrants has made the dangerous journey north from Latin America to the United States border. Most are children, and three-quarters of the unaccompanied minors have traveled thousands of miles from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
âIn comparison to other global threats, the near collapse of societies in the hemisphere with the associated drug and [undocumented immigrant] flow are frequently viewed to be of low importance,â Kelly told Defense One. âMany argue these threats are not existential and do not challenge our national security. I disagree.â
In spring hearings before the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, Kelly said that budgets cuts are âseverely degradingâ the militaryâs ability to defend southern approaches to the U.S border. Last year, he said, his task force was unable to act on nearly 75 percent of illicit trafficking events. âI simply sit and watch it go by,â he said. But the potential threats are even greater. Kelly warned that neglect has created vulnerabilities that can be exploited by terrorist groups, describing a âcrime-terror convergenceâ already seen in Lebanese Hezbollahâs involvement in the region.
âAll this corruption and violence is directly or indirectly due to the insatiable U.S. demand for drugs, particularly cocaine, heroin and now methamphetamines,â Kelly told Defense One, âall of which are produced in Latin America and smuggled into the U.S. along an incredibly efficient network along which anything â hundreds of tons of drugs, people, terrorists, potentially weapons of mass destruction or children â can travel, so long as they can pay the fare.â
Continued at: http://www.defenseone.com/threats/2...der-security-now-existential-threat-us/87958/
July 5, 2014
by Molly O'Toole
A top United States general in charge of protecting the southern border says heâs been unable to combat the steady flow of illegal drugs, weapons and people from Central America, and is looking to Congress for urgent help.
Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, commander of U.S. Southern Command, has asked Congress this year for more money, drones and ships for his mission â a request unlikely to be met. Since October, an influx of nearly 100,000 migrants has made the dangerous journey north from Latin America to the United States border. Most are children, and three-quarters of the unaccompanied minors have traveled thousands of miles from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
âIn comparison to other global threats, the near collapse of societies in the hemisphere with the associated drug and [undocumented immigrant] flow are frequently viewed to be of low importance,â Kelly told Defense One. âMany argue these threats are not existential and do not challenge our national security. I disagree.â
In spring hearings before the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, Kelly said that budgets cuts are âseverely degradingâ the militaryâs ability to defend southern approaches to the U.S border. Last year, he said, his task force was unable to act on nearly 75 percent of illicit trafficking events. âI simply sit and watch it go by,â he said. But the potential threats are even greater. Kelly warned that neglect has created vulnerabilities that can be exploited by terrorist groups, describing a âcrime-terror convergenceâ already seen in Lebanese Hezbollahâs involvement in the region.
âAll this corruption and violence is directly or indirectly due to the insatiable U.S. demand for drugs, particularly cocaine, heroin and now methamphetamines,â Kelly told Defense One, âall of which are produced in Latin America and smuggled into the U.S. along an incredibly efficient network along which anything â hundreds of tons of drugs, people, terrorists, potentially weapons of mass destruction or children â can travel, so long as they can pay the fare.â
Continued at: http://www.defenseone.com/threats/2...der-security-now-existential-threat-us/87958/
