CRACKDOWN ON SMUGGLERS NEEDED, CHERTOFF SAYS

LOS ANGELES -- The rising tide of guns flowing into Mexico from the
United States, which is fueling some of the worst drug violence in
Mexico in years, can be stopped only by cracking down on smugglers the
way federal authorities hobbled the Mafia, the secretary of homeland
security, Michael Chertoff, said Thursday.

Mr. Chertoff gave that assessment in an interview as he attended a
conference here of governors from United States and Mexican border
states that ended Friday.

With thousands killed in Mexico in the past year as drug cartels
battle for turf and supremacy, security along the border remained a
major focus of the governors, who were under heavy guard by local,
state and federal law enforcement officers.

The Mexican governors sought to emphasize the United States' place as
the chief recipient of drugs and exporter of weapons. United States
officials have estimated that 90 percent to 95 percent of the weapons
used in Mexico's drug violence come from the United States.

"For Mexico the greatest worry we have in these times like we have
never had before in our history is the organized crime problem," said
Jose Natividad Gonzalez Paras, the governor of Nuevo Leon. "But we
have to make a binational effort, an international effort because the
movement of drugs, the drug market, the finances along the length and
breadth of the continent goes from South America to Mexico to the
United States."

The governors on Friday pledged more cooperation among state law
enforcement agencies to curb gun trafficking. For example, Arizona and
the Mexican state of Sonora across its border, which has experienced
heavy fighting among drug gangs, recently signed agreements to share
intelligence and use databases to track stolen weapons.

Mr. Chertoff spoke briefly at the conference, the 26th such gathering,
but, deferring to the wishes of the hosts, steered clear of discussing
some of his department's signature projects, like building fences
along the border and the record level of deportations, mostly Mexican
citizens.

In the interview, he said the United States and Mexico were working on
penetrating the smuggling organizations, an effort he called vital to
dismantling them. Getting inside, Mr. Chertoff said, is particularly
important because many of the weapons are bought by middlemen at gun
shows and shops and then resold or delivered to the cartels, making
them difficult to trace.

"If you don't have inside information or intelligence to begin to see
who is directing this activity, all you're going to do is wind up
arresting one person here, one person there," Mr. Chertoff said,
likening such arrests to netting street drug dealers instead of kingpins.

But, recalling his days prosecuting organized crime, he added: "I also
know it doesn't happen in a month. The cases we built over time took
years."

The governors, pushed by the conference host, Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger of California, highlighted the effort to improve the
environment and strengthen economic ties. They floated, among other
proposals, the idea of an express toll lane at border crossings to
ease congestion into the United States and pay for road and other
improvements.

"Some people still think of the border only in negative terms," Mr.
Schwarzenegger said at the opening ceremony at a theater near
Universal Studios Hollywood. He added: "Every time we turn on the TV
or pick up the newspaper we are hit by stories about illegal
immigrants and the problems they create. We see that all the time. But
I also want people to know about the positive stories."