Feds battle drug traffickers on public lands

Paradoxically, government attempts to enhance national security following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have fueled this trend. Tightened border security has made it harder for traffickers to move drugs from Mexico across the southwest border, spurring producers to move their operations north of the border and closer to their market.

Now the Defense Department, in an effort to focus more resources on overseas military operations, has decided to reduce its counternarcotics support to civilian law enforcement agencies.

In the December issue of Government Executive, Katherine McIntire Peters explores the federal response to the increase in drug production on federal lands by foreign cartels--some of which are suspected to have connections to Middle Eastern terrorists.

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