HOMELAND PREPAREDNESS NEWS, DOUGLAS CLARK

A legislative amendment introduced by Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Will Hurd (R-TX) has been incorporated into the Intelligence Authorization Act as a means of addressing trafficking and smuggling networks.

The amendment directs the intelligence community to prioritize efforts to combat drug trafficking, human trafficking and human smuggling networks in the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico.

“I am proud to introduce this amendment alongside my colleague, Congressman Hurd from Texas—himself also a former CIA case officer,” Spanberger said. “Our bipartisan amendment, the Trafficking and Smuggling Intelligence Act, comes at a time of great hardship, violence, and heartbreak across Mexico and the Northern Triangle Countries and at a time of crisis at our Southern border. This volatility in our backyard should be cause for serious concern.”

The amendment requires the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to provide Congress with analytical assessments of the activities of drug trafficking organizations, human traffickers, and human smugglers in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. It also ensures the DNI’s assessments address how the activities of these organizations affect the security and economic situation in these countries and contribute to migration to the U.S.-Mexico border. Additionally, it directs the intelligence community to conduct a review of its activities in the Northern Triangle and assess whether its priorities are sufficient to address the threat posed by drug trafficking organizations, human traffickers and human smugglers to the security of the United States and the Western Hemisphere.

“Like so many of our colleagues, Congressman Hurd and I recognize that if we are to keep Americans safe while also responsibly addressing the situation at the border, we must address the conditions at the core of instability we are seeing in Central America,” Spanberger said.