U.S. SEES HEIGHTENED THREAT IN MEXICO

To Combat 'Narcoinsurgency,' Obama Administration Considers New Military
And Intelligence Aid Against Drug Gangs

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration sees the drug-related violence
sweeping Mexico as a growing threat to U.S. national security and has
launched a broad review of steps the military and intelligence
community could take to help combat what some U.S. officials describe
as a narcoinsurgency.

U.S. and Mexican officials say the Pentagon's Northern Command, the
Department of Homeland Security and other agencies are discussing what
aviation, surveillance and intelligence assets could be used-both
inside Mexico and along the border-to help counter the drug cartels.

Officials say it is unclear how much of an expanded American role the
Mexicans will accept. The scope of the U.S. effort is expected to grow
but it is unclear how much. There is no consideration of sending U.S.
troops other than in a training or liaison capacity, people familiar
with the matter say.

Interagency talks about ramping up assistance have been discreet to
avoid a public backlash in Mexico.

But the review is tacit acknowledgment that the Merida Initiative
launched in 2008, in which Congress allocated $1.3 billion over three
years to help Mexican drug-interdiction efforts, has been insufficient
to stem the violence.

Adm. James Winnefeld, head of NorthCom, recently ordered a broad
assessment of potential military assistance beyond existing training
and information-sharing programs. "The whole interagency [complex] has
been asked to look at what more can we do to help our partners in
Mexico," he said.

As part of the review, Homeland Security is working with the Air Force
to identify the most useful military surveillance technology for
monitoring land, sea and air traffic along the border. U.S. Customs
and Border Protection spokesman Juan A. Munoz-Torres said the
technologies under consideration include "sensored manned aircraft and
ground-based sensors" in addition to unmanned aerial drones.

Other officials said ground-based radar used by the military, the most
sophisticated of which can be used to identify and track movement over
a large area, is also being evaluated.

Officials say the U.S. has been working to boost Mexican capabilities
to monitor cartel leaders' communications and pinpoint their
locations. But U.S. agencies remain wary of sharing their most
sensitive intelligence because of concerns that some of their Mexican
counterparts may be on the payroll of the cartels, despite U.S.
efforts to boost "internal integrity," they say.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is "growing
increasingly concerned about the security situation" and has asked his
staff to work with NorthCom to explore increased engagement with the
Mexican military, a U.S. military official said. "The question is what
will the Mexican military accept from us."

The Mexican government appears increasingly open to greater
cooperation in part because the security situation "is getting worse,"
the official added.

"We have certainly encouraged the U.S. to enhance and deepen
cooperation with Mexico," said Mexico's ambassador to Washington,
Arturo Sarukhan. "Whether it's guns and cash moving south and drugs
moving north; breaking the command, control, communications and
intelligence capabilities of transnational organized crime operating
on both sides of our common border; or providing for human security,
these challenges will all require that we move to a new stage of
cooperation."

Any further U.S. military assistance to Mexico faces hurdles on both
sides of the border. Mexico has been reluctant to accept direct U.S.
military help and, with the Pentagon focused on Afghanistan and its
expanding campaign against al Qaeda and its affiliates, it is unclear
what the appetite will be inside the Department of Defense for a
greater U.S. role, even if Mexico agreed to one.

But U.S. officials are ratcheting up the rhetoric, going so far as
using the term insurgency to describe how Mexican cartels are
challenging the government.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday described the drug
violence in Mexico as an "insurgency," saying "It's looking more and
more like Colombia looked 20 years ago, when the narcotraffickers
controlled certain parts of the country."

Mexicans leaders chafe at that characterization-terminology used to
describe a politically motivated war against an incumbent government,
such as the Taliban's fight in Afghanistan.

The language used by Mrs. Clinton was reminiscent of a controversial
November 2008 U.S. military assessment that lumped Mexico together
with Pakistan as running the risk of "rapid and sudden collapse" in a
worst-case scenario.

"To frame the problem as an insurgency almost necessarily invites a
military response," said Andrew Bacevich, a retired Army officer and
professor of international relations and history at Boston University.
"I would be skeptical that a response that puts a primary emphasis on
military power would be appropriate."

"The military that once claimed to have war figured out with 'shock
and awe' as a model now claims to have war figured out as
counterinsurgency," he added. "Rather than treating different cases as
distinctive, I think there is a tendency to apply the template, and
today the template is counterinsurgency."

Henry Crumpton, a former top counterterrorism official at the Central
Intelligence Agency and the State Department, said labeling the
cartels an "insurgency" is the right way to frame the problem but is
politically sensitive because of concern that the U.S. military will
aim to take the lead in the U.S. effort to combat the Mexican drug
problem. "That's particularly inflammatory to the Mexicans," Mr.
Crumpton said.

Though Mexico is intertwined with the U.S. economically, many Mexicans
would see greater American military involvement in the conflict as a
breach of sovereignty.

Mexico's battle with organized crime has recently engulfed Monterrey,
the nation's business capital, as two drug cartels battle for control
of the city, once known as Latin America's wealthiest and safest.
Murders, kidnappings and extortion have grown fast, with the
complicity of local police forces believed to have been infiltrated by
drug gangs. The violence is leading to an exodus of wealthy Mexicans
and American expatriates.

Republicans have seized on border-security issues ahead of
congressional elections in November, accusing President Barack Obama
and his Democratic Party of not doing enough to prevent spillover of
the violence to the U.S. side of the border.

In August, Mr. Obama signed a law that provides $600 million for new
border technology-including two new Predator unmanned aerial
vehicles-and additional Border Patrol, customs and law-enforcement
agents. By the end of September, around 1,200 members of the National
Guard are expected to be deployed to the southwestern border region to
support the Border Patrol and other law-enforcement agencies.

Former officials say U.S. assistance to the effort has lagged in part
because of the U.S. preoccupation with Islamist-led insurgencies in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Mexico's resistance to more U.S. military
help-compared to other countries like Colombia where the U.S. has
played a far more hands-on role-has been another inhibiting factor and
a source of U.S. frustration.

One problem with increased intelligence collaboration: U.S. agencies
have been wary of sharing some intelligence because of concerns that
some of their Mexican counterparts may be on the payroll of the
cartels. "This is, to put it mildly, an extremely complex situation.
We are assisting the Mexicans and stand ready to do more," a U.S.
counternarcotics official said of intelligence sharing.

A former senior U.S. counternarcotics official said intelligence from
the few Predator drones flying along the border is being shared with
Mexican authorities. Far more surveillance is needed, officials say.

"We need to give credit to what President [Felipe] Calderon's doing
taking on this issue," the official said. "But someone's going to have
to come to the realization that there is a war going on down there and
they're going to need help in combating that war."

- -Siobhan Gorman and David Luhnow contributed to this article.