By U.S. Air Force Capt. Mia C. Link
Joint Task Force North
FORT Bliss, Texas – Security vulnerabilities at the southwest border present a grave national security threat. An unsecure border allows opportunities for transnational threats – including transnational criminals, terrorists, illicit drugs, weapons of mass destruction, and other contraband – to enter the United States. Transnational criminal organizations have established illicit pathways across the border from Mexico into the United States to enable their illegal activities. These pathways can also be exploited by others with hostile intent.
Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies do not have all the necessary resources to maintain operational control over the border. The Defense Department, or DoD, has unique capabilities that can be leveraged in support of border security missions and allow law enforcement agencies to use their resources more effectively.
The DoD’s fundamental mission is defending the homeland. It is authorized to provide intelligence support to law enforcement agencies related to international terrorism, narcotics, or transnational organized crime activities. Border security requires contributions and coordination of both the DoD and U.S. law enforcement agencies. The DoD is able to provide intelligence support to law enforcement agencies through Joint Task Force North’s, or JTF-N’s, request for information, or RFI, process.
The DoD designated U.S. Northern Command’s, or USNORTHCOM’s, subordinate command, JTF-N, the coordinating organization for DoD support to law enforcement agencies for counterdrug efforts. JTF-N was originally established as Joint Task Force 6 in 1989, to support then President George H.W. Bush’s effort to counter drugs. JTF-N was realigned under USNORTHCOM in 2002. Based on Fort Bliss, JTF-N is the DoD’s active-duty command tasked to support the United States' federal law enforcement agencies in the conduct of counterdrug and counter transnational criminal organization activities conducted within and along the nation's borders and entries to the United States.
In this role, JTF-N provides operational support to law enforcement agencies specifically for counterdrug efforts through U.S. Code Title 10, the primary authority for DoD support to counterdrug operations. JTF-N coordinates for units operating under Title 10 to train and support law enforcement through detection and monitoring, ground surveillance, and mobility operations in support of the counterdrug mission. JTF-N also develops regional partnerships and provides certain types of intelligence support.
JTF-N assigns regional support teams, or RSTs, to provide intelligence support to each corridor that the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, has broken out along the southwest border: California, Arizona, New Mexico/West Texas, South Texas, and the Caribbean corridor. Three of these five corridors currently have permanent forward based personnel; the other two have designated personnel who work with the corridor from JTF-N headquarters, with frequent site visits. JTF-N personnel are able to act as a conduit between organizations, and provide guidance on DoD processes and capabilities. Direct intelligence support requires an official request for support; however, JTF-N is authorized to provide incidental intelligence information, or intelligence that it acquires through normal military duties.
One way of enhancing this DoD support is through the submission of requests for information, or RFIs. DHS and other law enforcement agencies have little intelligence capability outside of generating human intelligence reporting. Compared to the DOD and intelligence community, they have limited signals intelligence technical collection and processing capabilities, and they lack the geospatial analytic expertise to exploit imagery products. Law enforcement agencies can obtain foreign intelligence assistance from JTF-N by submitting RFIs through their respective RST. Because law enforcement agency personnel often do not have routine access to classified facilities, RFIs can be submitted at either the unclassified or secret level. JTF-N is authorized to answer law enforcement RFIs if providing such assistance primarily furthers JTF-N’s mission, and support to law enforcement is incidental. Direct intelligence support requires the submission of a formal support request by the appropriate agency.
The RFIs are validated and researched by the JTF-N RFI manager to determine whether the information exists in either theater or national intelligence databases that are accessible to the command. If the RFI manager determines that the RFI asks for information that is unavailable or represents an intelligence collection gap, he or she forwards it for action to the collections manager to nominate for collection by theater intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets or to request national collection agency support to obtain the information. JTF-N maintains an RFI portal and tracks the status of all RFIs on a secret-level network.
This process and the relationship between JTF-N and law enforcement agencies has proven mutually beneficial. On the law enforcement side, JTF-N has provided mentoring on DoD processes and capabilities, as well as intelligence products and access to intelligence resources. “JTF-N has been instrumental in escalating [my] team's intelligence capabilities to the highest levels through mentoring, guidance, and accessibility; and introduced very unique capabilities that greatly contribute to the Customs and Border Protection law enforcement and border security mission," said Cesar Castro, a senior-level DHS security official.
Similarly, JTF-N receives valuable information on targets south of the border to augment its counterdrug and homeland defense mission. Continued coordination between agencies will further enhance border security.
For more information on JTF-N, its intelligence initiatives or support opportunities, please contact the command at 915-313-7777 or visit www.jtfn.northcom.mil.
About the Author:
U.S. Air Force Capt. Mia C. Link is the requirements manager at Joint Task Force North on Fort Bliss, Texas. She reviews, prioritizes and validates intelligence requirements from regional support teams and law enforcement agencies in support of the JTF-N commander’s counterdrug mission. She also manages the intelligence collaboration production to produce finished intelligence products in support of JTF-N and law enforcement agencies.
| Date Taken: | 05.03.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 05.03.2017 16:45 |
| Story ID: | 232453 |
| Location: | EL PASO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 158 |
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