U.S. UNVEILS PLAN TO FIGHT MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS

Obama administration officials said Friday they will devote more
resources to fighting Mexican drug cartels and use new technology to
thwart them while trying to quell the U.S. demand for drugs that fuels
the violent gangs.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
announced a 2009 counternarcotics strategy at a press conference with
White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske. Holder called it "an effective
way forward that will crack down on cartels and make our country safer."

The strategy calls for a number of steps along the U.S.-Mexico border
to combat and detect smugglers, including:

. Building visual shields near border-crossing points so drug cartel
spotters can't alert approaching motorists about inspections.

. Improving non-lethal weapons technology to help officers
incapacitate suspects and disable motor vehicles and boats used by
traffickers.

. Use more intelligence analysts to ferret out drug-dealing
networks.

More than 10,800 people have been killed in Mexico by drug violence
since December 2006. Mexico has deployed more than 45,000 soldiers
across the country to fight the heavily armed cartels.

Holder and Napolitano praised efforts by Mexican President Felipe
Calderon and said the United States must contribute to the fight.
"International cooperation is very, very key," Napolitano said.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security
Committee, said the strategy is missing a key piece:

"I am disappointed that it does not call on departments of Homeland
Security and Justice to resolve their long-standing turf battles over
drug investigations," the Mississippi Democrat said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants more of its agents to have
the authority to do drug investigations. But this can only happen if
the Drug Enforcement Administration agrees. No such agreement has been
reached.

Napolitano conceded the plan outlined Friday doesn't address that
issue but said Homeland Security and Justice officials have been
working on it and will announce a solution "very, very shortly."

Numerous state and federal law enforcement officials crowded a
University of New Mexico ballroom for the announcement.

The drug strategy's long-range goals include developing new technology
to process biometric information from documents used by Mexicans
crossing the border. That would allow Customs and Border Patrol
officers to run fingerprint checks on Mexicans who have border
crossing cards to enter the United States.

The Obama administration has pledged to provide more help in the
effort, sending additional federal agents, officers, and equipment to
the border and to Mexico to fight the Mexican cartels.

Napolitano said the U.S. strategy would also focus on reducing demand
from drug users.

"We can't just fight drugs at the border. We can't just fight drugs by
fighting traffickers. We must fight drugs in the United States,"
Napolitano said.

The Marijuana Policy Project, which supports regulating the drug like
alcohol, criticized the plan.

"This new effort ... ignores the central problem, which is that
marijuana prohibition has handed the Mexican cartels a massive market
that keeps them fat and happy," said the group's spokesman, Bruce Mirken.