NSWBCN Strategy to Combat Drug Trafficking and Terrorist Threat in the Southwest Border

Overview of NSWBCN Strategy

Part 1

NSWBCN Strategy was proposed following realization that drug and corruption operatives can be very complex such that it is not easy to focus on one suspected activity and conclude that the issue of drug trafficking, weapon trafficking and even human trafficking has been addressed (Border, 2012).  NSWBCN is an expansion of Merida initiative. NSWBCN helps to reduce the flow of illegal drugs, circulation of money related to drugs, and associated instruments of violence across the Southwest border. Its key components include efficient use of the intelligent information, interdiction of drug proceeds, disrupting drug trafficking organizations, interdiction of flow of weapons, sustain air and maritime monitoring and utilization of modern counter drug technologies, tunnel strategy, promotion of joint US- Mexico cooperation towards counter-narcotics as well as sensitizing communities to resist use of drugs.

Part 2

Just like the experienced from the movie Act of Valor, most of the drug trafficking is like a wide enterprise whereby each suspect is like a subset of complex system (FATF 2008). In the movie Act of Valor, for example, the United States Soldiers managed to trace virtually every lifeline of the terrorist network. This could not be achieved if they lacked the valor and patriotism. For example, when rescuing a kidnapped person reveals a deadly terrorist conspiracy against the United States, soldiers are sent to stop the attack, which could kill thousands of civilians. However, when the heroes of the film “The Law of Valor” manage to restore order at this point, they receive a message about an upcoming similar plot from a completely different region. Moving from Chechnya to the Philippines and from Ukraine to Somalia, commandos trace the terrorist chain to the borders with Mexico, where they are destined to find themselves in a fierce battle, which will have grave consequences for the future of all of America. NSWBCN is designed to analogize the act of valor displayed by the United States soldiers in the movie Act of Valor. That is why it is associated with unprecedented increases in technology, personnel, and resources.

Threat of WMD

The worst imagination is a case where terrorist get access and starts using weapons of mass destruction. This imagination sends chilling message to anyone who understand the magnitude of destructive effects of WMD. After the replication of the pictures of the global catastrophe during the confrontation between the USA and the USSR, the use of nuclear weapons became one of the main nightmares of mass consciousness and the dream of many terrorists (Isacson  & Meyer 2012).  A considerable shock in the world was caused by the gas attack of 1993 in the Tokyo subway. How realistic are the scenarios for the use of weapons of mass destruction by terrorist groups? And what consequences can “super-attacks” have with the use of “dirty bombs”, biological and chemical WMD?

Consequently, the NSWBCN Strategy deemed very important to have comprehensive, fully-coordinated national policy that adequately assess the level of this threat and the real possibilities for the use of such weapons by terrorist organizations UNODC (2015). Even then, the NSWBCN is far from perfect. There are numerous loopholes that are associated with corruption, lack of proper coordination among agencies, the community reluctance to cooperate and WMD