U.S. TO SEND MORE AGENTS TO CURB BORDER VIOLENCE

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is sending hundreds of
additional agents to the Southwest in an effort to target Mexican
drug networks and limit violence spilling into the U.S. But the
initiative could be hampered by turf wars among U.S. law-enforcement agencies.

A bullet-riddled truck in Tijuana, Mexico, on Tuesday illustrates the
violence plaguing the U.S.-Mexico border.

The White House on Tuesday unveiled a strategy aimed at stemming the
Mexican cartels' illicit drug shipments into the U.S., estimated to
be worth at least $15 billion annually, and limiting the volume of
weapons and cash smuggled back to Mexico. The plan includes some $700
million in existing aid for Mexican law enforcement designated by the
Bush administration. However, competing agencies have refused to work
together on the task forces that the administration is bolstering to
target the drugs, guns and cash that are fueling fighting among
Mexico's drug lords, according to the agency officials. And adding to
the problem, the agencies are operating under rules that are up to
three decades old, said former senior agency officials and members of
Congress involved in oversight.

Tuesday's strategy announcement marks a White House effort to respond
to growing concerns over the clout of Mexican narcotics barons whose
heavily armed forces are fighting each other over turf and
drug-trafficking routes into the U.S. The drug lords are also taking
on Mexican government troops mobilized by Mexican President Felipe
Calderon to stop the drug wars. Violence has become especially
pronounced in border towns that are crucial links between the U.S.
and Mexico, such as Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana. An estimated 6,000
people were killed in Mexican drug violence last year. The biggest
immediate impact of the new program is likely to come from the
addition of more than 360 Department of Homeland Security agents
heading to the border or crossing into Mexico to work with
authorities there. The deployment, announced by Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano, is expected to cost up to $184 million.
Existing resources will be shifted away from less-urgent initiatives
to cover the cost.

The U.S. will also deploy new equipment for scanning vehicles headed
into Mexico, U.S. officials said. In addition, the Justice Department
will send at least 116 more of its own agents from two agencies --
the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- to help on the initiative.

But the Mexico crisis is highlighting existing rivalries among these
agencies. Both Ms. Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder have
privately assured members of Congress that they would resolve any
interagency disputes, congressional aides said. A Homeland Security
spokeswoman said Ms. Napolitano and Mr. Holder had a longstanding
personal relationship and would work together.

But as of this week, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives was refusing to allow some of its agents to participate in
several of the special task force groups established by the
Department of Homeland Security to coordinate border efforts to crack
down on guns and drug proceeds headed to Mexico, said bureau and
Homeland Security officials. The bureau investigates illegal gun
sales inside the U.S., while Homeland Security enforces laws against
the illegal export of guns. While bureau agents work on these task
forces in Texas, regional leaders have refused to join the same
effort in Arizona, officials from both agencies acknowledged. An
internal Homeland Security intelligence analysis on the flow of guns
into Mexico named Arizona as a major corridor. Bureau officials
defended the agency's decision to participate only on the Texas-based
teams, saying the state is the origin of half the guns used in
Mexican crimes that are traced back to the U.S.

The White House on Tuesday said it will double the number of these
teams, called Border Enforcement Security Task Forces.

The Obama Administration is fighting back against drug cartels in
Mexico by fighting back with manpower, technology and money to secure
the border. Video courtesy of Fox News.

Another challenge facing the initiative is that agents must work
under what critics say are outdated guidelines for joint
investigations on guns that were written in 1978. Guidelines for
joint investigations into money laundering and narcotics trafficking
date to 1990 and 1994, respectively. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, a
Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has policed
interagency turf wars for years, said investigations into such
pressing problems should not be regulated by such outdated rules.

"All of these people work for the federal taxpayer," he said. "When
are they going to put the taxpayer's interest at heart and cooperate
and get the most bang for the buck?"

Department of Homeland Security officials have been especially vexed
by the guidelines on narcotics investigations. Under the law, such
investigations are primarily the turf of the DEA, even though
Homeland Security agents make the vast majority of drug arrests at the border.

The guidelines limit to about 1,500 the number of investigators from
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is part of Homeland
Security, who can work on drug cases across the country. Julie Myers
Wood, who was Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief until
November, said the rules are so outdated that agents have "their
hands tied behind their backs." Homeland Security pushed to expand
its authority for drug cases in 2007 and 2008, according to Ms. Myers
Wood and other former department officials. But the effort met
resistance from DEA. Officials from the DEA said they offered to lift
the cap in return for more intelligence-sharing, but were rebuffed.