Narco-violence in Mexico: a growing threat to U.S. security.

• Author: McCaffrey, Barry R.
• Position: Report

MEMORANDUM FOR: Colonel Michael Meese

Professor and Head Dept of Social Sciences United States Military Academy

CC: Colonel Cindy Jebb

Professor and Deputy Head Dept of Social Sciences United States Military Academy

SUBJECT: After Action Report--General Barry R McCaffrey USA (Ret)

VISIT MEXICO-5-7 DECEMBER 2008

1. PURPOSE: This memo provides a strategic and operational assessment of drugs and crime in Mexico. Be glad to conduct a Faculty Seminar and Cadet Class lectures based on this report during the upcoming semester.

   This paper was based on the first three-day meeting of the INTERNATIONAL FORUM OF INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY SPECIALISTS .... an Advisory Body to the Mexican Federal Law Enforcement leadership.

2. SOURCES:

   A. MEXICO:

1. Secretary Ing. Genaro Garcia Luna (Conference Chair) -- Secretary of Public Security, Mexico. Sent invitation for participation in the Secretary of Public Security's International Forum of Intelligence and Security Specialists.

2. Juan Rebolledo Gout (Conference Deputy Chair) -- Former Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Current International Vice President of "Grupo Mexico".

3. Jorge Enrique Tello Peon (Conference Delegate) -- Former General Director of the Center for Research and National Security (Centro de Investigacion y Seguridad Nacional CISEN). Current Vice President, Development of International Information, Strategy and Finance, CEMEX (Mexican Cement Company).

4. Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan -- Mexican Ambassador to the United States. One-on-one pre-brief meeting at Mexican Embassy on 3 December.

   B. UNITED STATES:

1. Secretary Roberta Jacobson -- Deputy Assistant Secretary, Western Hemisphere Affairs, Department of State. Meeting at State Department on 3 December.

2. Ian Brownlee -- Deputy Director, Office of Mexican Affairs, Department of State. Attended meeting with Roberta Jacobson, 3 December.

3. Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow (Conference Delegate) -- Former United States Ambassador to Mexico. Current President of the "Institute of the Americas".

4. The Honorable Karen Tandy (Conference Delegate) -- Former head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Current Vice President of Motorola's Global Government Relations and Public Policy Division.

5. Thomas Telles (Conference Delegate) -- Former Senior Executive and Regional Director for South America to the United States Department of Justice. Current President of Telles Global Consultants.

6. Jack Devine (Conference Delegate) -- Former Associate Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Current President of Arkin Group, LLC.

7. Major Fernando Lujan -- Mexico expert. Department of Social Sciences, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY. Provided background materials and preparation briefings.

8. Mr. Pancho Kinney, Research Associate, (supported trip by organizing Mexico research materials) -- Former Deputy Director of International Affairs within the Office of the Secretary, Department of Homeland Security (DHS). While at the White House, Mr. Kinney drafted and negotiated the 22-point "Smart Border" accord with Mexico, signed in March 2002. Subsequently oversaw the implementation of the accord on behalf of the Administration and was also an Administration spokesperson on homeland security issues to national Hispanic media outlets.

   C. COLOMBIA:

   General Luis Enrique Montenegro Rinco (Conference Delegate) -- Former Director of the Administrative Security Department. Current Professor and Private Advisor of security topics.

   D. CANADA:

1. General Alfred John Gardyne Drummond De Chastelain (Conference Delegate) -- Former Chief of the Defense staff in Canada.

2. Norman David Inkster (Conference Delegate) -- Former eighteenth Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Former President of Interpol. Current President of Inkster Group.

3. Joseph Philip Robert Murray (Conference Delegate) -- Former nineteenth Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Current member of the Board of Governors of The Ottowa Hospital.

   E. UNITED KINGDOM:

   Dudley Ankerson (Conference Delegate) -- Former member of the British Diplomatic Service. Current Director of Latin Insight Consulting Limited and Representative of BP in Mexico.

   F. SPAIN:

   Jesus de la Morena Bustillo (Conference Delegate) -- Former General Commissioner of Information to the Spanish National Police Corps. Current Director of Security to Iberia Group.

   G. INDIA:

   R. K. Raghavan (Conference Delegate) -- Former Director to the Central Bureau of Investigation. Current advisor for Tata Consultancy Services.

   H. GERMANY:

   Ulrich Kersten (Conference Delegate) -- Former President of the Federal Bureau of Criminal Investigations in Germany.

3. THE SITUATION IN MEXICO:

   A. The Mexican State is engaged in an increasingly violent, internal struggle against heavily armed narco-criminal cartels that have intimidated the public, corrupted much of law enforcement, and created an environment of impunity to the law.

   * Thousands are being murdered each year. Drug production, addiction, and smuggling are rampant. The struggle for power among drug cartels has resulted in chaos in the Mexican states and cities along the U.S.-Mexico border. Drug-related assassinations and kidnappings are now common-place occurrences throughout the country.

   * Squad-sized units of the police and Army have been tortured, murdered, and their decapitated bodies publicly left on display. The malignancy of drug criminality now contaminates not only the 2000 miles of cross-border U.S...