Counternarcotics Must Be Part of Homeland Security
By Congressman Mark Souder
This column was first published by the KPC Media Group in the News-Sun (Noble & LaGrange Counties), the Evening Star (DeKalb County), and the Herald-Republican (Steuben County).
Since September 11, 2001, when almost 3,000 Americans were killed in multiple, coordinated terrorist attacks, around 150,000 Americans have died because of illegal drug use.
As a direct result of that fateful day, Congress created the Department of Homeland Security. This department is charged with the incredibly difficult mission of guarding our bordersland, air and seafrom Islamic terrorists, illegal aliens who break into our nation, and illegal contraband, such as narcotics, weapons (nuclear, chemical and biological), and other prohibited items.
With limited resourcesboats, planes and agentsthe Homeland Security Department is forced to make constant trade-offs. As a result, immediately after 9/11, most of the department's assets were concentrated on anti-terrorism. More recentlyin a show of force to try to falsely convince Americans to support passage of a massive amnesty bill in the Senatethe department's resources were diverted briefly in order to inflate illegal immigration interdiction numbers.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have also diverted military support assets. Consequently, although border and intelligence assets have dramatically increased, our federal government has fewer resources devoted to counternarcotics efforts.
This problem is dramatic in the Caribbean. Illegal immigrants come not only from Haiti and Cuba, but also from throughout the Caribbean, South America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Illegal drugs smuggled from Colombia and the Andean nations stream north.
"Go-fast" boatswhich are high-speed boats designed to out-run law enforcement vessels and shorten delivery times for illegal narcotics and immigrant smuggling effortscrowd the open seas. At night, few of these "go-fast" boats are fishing. Their activities are largely illegal, and their cargo threatens the lives of thousands of Americans.
From around 1,000 islands in the Bahamas, as well as from islands just off Cuba, "go-fast" boats can reach Fort Lauderdale, Miami or the Florida Keys in around an hour. Our federal government tries to interdict them, but with fewer air and marine resources, our agents are struggling, even with improved intelligence and coordination.
During a recent visit to South Florida, I learned that if a "go-fast" boat crashes into one of the beautiful coral reefs, the driver will receive a greater penalty than if he's caught smuggling illegal drugs or trafficking illegal aliens. I strongly support the protection of coral, but it's shocking that traffickers aren't receiving an equal penalty at the very least!
One of the reasons why then-Speaker Dennis Hastert originally appointed me to the Homeland Security Committee was to pressure Congress and the Executive Branch not to forget about our duty to fight illegal drugs in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Although Democrats now control Congress, in my position as the Republican leader of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism, I am continuing to insist that we include battling narco-terrorism as a critical part of our homeland security efforts. Like child and spousal abuse, we will never completely eradicate illegal drug use, but we have a moral obligation to fight this battle.