Firearms Trafficking
U.S. Efforts to Combat Arms Trafficking to Mexico Face Planning and Coordination Challenges Gao ID: GAO-09-781T June 19, 2009This testimony discusses U.S. efforts to combat illicit arms trafficking to Mexico, is based on a GAO report, GAO-09-709, that we are releasing today. In recent years, violence along the U.S.-Mexico border has escalated dramatically as the administration of President Felipe Calderon has sought to combat the growing power of Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTO) and curb their ability to operate with impunity in certain areas of Mexico. As illicitly trafficked firearms have fueled the drug trafficking violence, Mexican officials have come to regard illicit firearms as the number one crime problem affecting the country's security. According to the Department of Justice's (DOJ) 2009 National Drug Threat Assessment, Mexican DTOs represent the greatest organized crime threat to the United States, controlling drug distribution in many U.S. cities, and gaining strength in markets they do not yet control. In particular, law enforcement reporting indicates Mexican DTOs maintain drug distribution networks or supply drugs to distributors in at least 230 U.S. cities. (3) challenges faced by U.S. agencies collaborating with Mexican authorities to combat the problem of illicit arms; and (4) the U.S. government's strategy for addressing the issue.
Available evidence indicates a large proportion of the firearms fueling Mexican drug violence originated in the United States, including a growing number of increasingly lethal weapons. While it is impossible to know how many firearms are illegally trafficked into Mexico in a given year, over 20,000, or around 87 percent, of firearms seized by Mexican authorities and traced over the past 5 years originated in the United States, according to data from DOJ's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Around 68 percent of these firearms were manufactured in the United States, and around 19 percent were manufactured in third countries and imported into the United States before being trafficked into Mexico. According to U.S. and Mexican government officials, these firearms have been increasingly more powerful and lethal in recent years. The U.S. government faces several significant challenges to its efforts to combat illicit sales of firearms in the United States and to stem the flow of these arms across the Southwest border into Mexico. First, certain provisions of some federal firearms laws present challenges to U.S. efforts, according to ATF officials. Specifically, officials identified key challenges related to (1) restrictions on collecting and reporting information on firearms purchases, (2) a lack of required background checks for private firearms sales, and (3) limitations on reporting requirements for multiple sales. Another challenge we found is ATF and Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the primary agencies implementing efforts to address this issue, do not consistently coordinate their efforts effectively, in part because the agencies lack clear roles and responsibilities and have been operating under an outdated interagency agreement. This has resulted in some instances of duplicate initiatives and confusion during operations. U.S. law enforcement agencies and the Department of State (State) have provided some assistance to Mexican counterparts in combating arms trafficking, but these efforts face several key challenges. U.S. law enforcement agencies have built working relationships with Mexican federal, state, and local law enforcement, as well as the Mexican military. This has given the United States the opportunity to provide Mexican government counterparts with some technical and operational assistance on firearms trafficking. However, U.S. assistance has been hampered by a number of factors. In particular, U.S. law enforcement assistance has been limited and, furthermore, it has not targeted arms trafficking needs.
GAO-09-781T, Firearms Trafficking: U.S. Efforts to Combat Arms Trafficking to Mexico Face Planning and Coordination Challenges
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Testimony:
Before the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Committee on Foreign
Affairs, House of Representatives:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
For Release on Delivery:
Expected at 11:00 a.m. EDT:
Thursday, June 18, 2009:
Firearms Trafficking:
U.S. Efforts to Combat Arms Trafficking to Mexico Face Planning and
Coordination Challenges:
Statement of Jess T. Ford, Director:
International Affairs and Trade:
GAO-09-781T:
June 18, 2009:
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:
I am pleased to be here today to discuss U.S. efforts to combat illicit
arms trafficking to Mexico. This testimony is based on a GAO report,
GAO-09-709, that we are releasing today. In recent years, violence
along the U.S.-Mexico border has escalated dramatically as the
administration of President Felipe Calderon has sought to combat the
growing power of Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTO) and curb
their ability to operate with impunity in certain areas of Mexico. As
illicitly trafficked firearms have fueled the drug trafficking
violence,[Footnote 1] Mexican officials have come to regard illicit
firearms as the number one crime problem affecting the country's
security. According to the Department of Justice's (DOJ) 2009 National
Drug Threat Assessment, Mexican DTOs represent the greatest organized
crime threat to the United States, controlling drug distribution in
many U.S. cities, and gaining strength in markets they do not yet
control (see figure 1). In particular, law enforcement reporting
indicates Mexican DTOs maintain drug distribution networks or supply
drugs to distributors in at least 230 U.S. cities.
Figure 1: U.S. Cities Reporting the Presence of Mexican DTOs, January
1, 2006, through April 8, 2008:
[Refer to PDF for image: map of the United States]
Represented by a dot, the map depicts U.S. cities reporting the
presence of Mexican DTOs.
Sources: GAO analysis of DOJ‘s National Drug Threat Assessment 2009;
Map Resources (map).
[End of figure]
President Obama has expressed concern about the increased level of
violence along the border, particularly in Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana,
and, in March 2009, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced
it planned to increase resources on the U.S.-Mexico border, including
more personnel and greater use of available technologies.
Today I will discuss (1) what data are available on the types, sources,
and users of these arms; (2) key challenges that confront U.S.
government efforts to combat illicit sales of firearms in the United
States and to stem the flow of these arms across the Southwest border
into Mexico; (3) challenges faced by U.S. agencies collaborating with
Mexican authorities to combat the problem of illicit arms; and (4) the
U.S. government's strategy for addressing the issue.
Over the course of our work on this issue, we reviewed and analyzed
program and project status reports, and related information, and met
with officials from the DOJ's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATF) and DHS's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
which are the two primary agencies combating illicit sales and
trafficking of firearms across the Southwest border. We also met with
officials from other agencies supporting these efforts. We visited and
met with officials from three major Southwest border cities and their
Mexican counterpart cities to explore the challenges faced by law
enforcement officials to stem the flow of arms smuggling across the
border, and traveled to Mexico to meet with U.S. and Mexican government
officials working on this issue. We also reviewed data on firearms
seized at the Southwest border and recovered in Mexico over the last 5
years, as well as data on firearms traced; investigations; inspections;
and firearms trafficking cases. We determined the data provided to us
by various U.S. agencies on these topics were sufficiently reliable to
provide an overall indication of the magnitude and nature of the
illicit firearms trade. We conducted this performance audit from July
2008 to June 2009 in accordance with generally accepted government
auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform
the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a
reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit
objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable
basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
In brief, Mr. Chairman, we found that U.S. efforts to combat the
illicit trafficking of firearms to Mexico face several challenges,
particularly relating to the planning and coordination of these
efforts.
Available evidence indicates a large proportion of the firearms fueling
Mexican drug violence originated in the United States, including a
growing number of increasingly lethal weapons. While it is impossible
to know how many firearms are illegally trafficked into Mexico in a
given year, over 20,000, or around 87 percent, of firearms seized by
Mexican authorities and traced over the past 5 years originated in the
United States, according to data from ATF (see fig. 2). Over 90 percent
of the firearms seized in Mexico and traced over the last 3 years have
come from the United States.
Figure 2: Percentages of Firearms Seized in Mexico and Traced in Fiscal
Years 2004-2008 That Originated in the United States:
[Refer to PDF for image: vertical bar graph]
Year: 2004;
Percentages of Firearms Seized that Originated in the United States:
72%;
Estimated number of guns traced to the United States: 3,090.
Year: 2005;
Percentages of Firearms Seized that Originated in the United States:
82%;
Estimated number of guns traced to the United States: 5,260.
Year: 2006;
Percentages of Firearms Seized that Originated in the United States:
95%;
Estimated number of guns traced to the United States: 1,950.
Year: 2007;
Percentages of Firearms Seized that Originated in the United States:
95%;
Estimated number of guns traced to the United States: 3,060.
Year: 2008;
Percentages of Firearms Seized that Originated in the United States:
93%;
Estimated number of guns traced to the United States: 6,700.
Source: GAO analysis of ATF data.
[End of figure]
Around 68 percent of these firearms were manufactured in the United
States, and around 19 percent were manufactured in third countries and
imported into the United States before being trafficked into Mexico.
According to U.S. and Mexican government officials, these firearms have
been increasingly more powerful and lethal in recent years. For
example, many of these firearms are high-caliber and high-powered, such
as AK and AR-15 type semiautomatic rifles. Many of these firearms come
from gun shops and gun shows in Southwest border states, such as Texas,
California, and Arizona, according to ATF officials and trace data.
U.S. and Mexican government and law enforcement officials stated most
guns trafficked to Mexico are intended to support operations of Mexican
drug trafficking organizations, which are also responsible for
trafficking arms to Mexico.
The U.S. government faces several significant challenges to its efforts
to combat illicit sales of firearms in the United States and to stem
the flow of these arms across the Southwest border into Mexico. First,
certain provisions of some federal firearms laws present challenges to
U.S. efforts, according to ATF officials. Specifically, officials
identified key challenges related to (1) restrictions on collecting and
reporting information on firearms purchases, (2) a lack of required
background checks for private firearms sales, and (3) limitations on
reporting requirements for multiple sales. Another challenge we found
is ATF and ICE, the primary agencies implementing efforts to address
this issue, do not consistently coordinate their efforts effectively,
in part because the agencies lack clear roles and responsibilities and
have been operating under an outdated interagency agreement. This has
resulted in some instances of duplicate initiatives and confusion
during operations. Additionally, we found agencies lack systematic
analysis and reporting of aggregate data related to arms trafficking,
and they were also unable to provide complete information to us on the
results of their efforts to seize firearms destined for Mexico and to
investigate and prosecute cases. This type of information could be
useful to better understand the nature of the problem, to help plan
ways to address it, and to assess progress made.
U.S. law enforcement agencies and the Department of State (State) have
provided some assistance to Mexican counterparts in combating arms
trafficking, but these efforts face several key challenges. U.S. law
enforcement agencies have built working relationships with Mexican
federal, state, and local law enforcement, as well as the Mexican
military. This has given the United States the opportunity to provide
Mexican government counterparts with some technical and operational
assistance on firearms trafficking. However, U.S. assistance has been
hampered by a number of factors. In particular, U.S. law enforcement
assistance has been limited and, furthermore, it has not targeted arms
trafficking needs. For example, although the Merida Initiative--a U.S.
interagency response to transborder crime and security issues affecting
the United States, Mexico, and Central America--provides general law
enforcement and counternarcotics assistance to Mexico, it does not
provide dedicated funding to address the issue of arms trafficking. A
number of efforts officials told us could be helpful in combating arms
trafficking--such as establishing and supporting a bilateral,
multiagency arms trafficking task force--have not been undertaken. In
addition, U.S. assistance has been limited due to Mexican government
officials' incomplete use to date of ATF's electronic firearms tracing
system, known as eTrace, which is an important tool for U.S. arms
trafficking investigations in the United States. The ability of Mexican
officials to input data into eTrace has been hampered partly because a
Spanish language version of eTrace under development for months has
still not been deployed across Mexico. Another significant challenge
facing the United States in its efforts to assist Mexico is the concern
about corruption among some Mexican government entities. Despite
President Calderon's efforts to combat organized crime, extensive
corruption at the federal, state, and local levels of Mexican law
enforcement impedes U.S. efforts to develop effective and dependable
partnerships with Mexican government entities in combating arms
trafficking. Mexican federal authorities are implementing
anticorruption measures--including polygraph and psychological testing,
background checks, and salary increases--but government officials
acknowledge fully implementing these reforms will take considerable
time and may take years to affect comprehensive change.
On June 5, 2009, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
released its 2009 National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy,
which, for the first time, includes a chapter on combating illicit arms
trafficking to Mexico. Prior to the new strategy, the U.S. government
did not have a strategy that explicitly addressed arms trafficking to
Mexico. In the absence of a strategy, individual U.S. agencies have
undertaken a variety of activities and projects to combat arms
trafficking to Mexico. While these individual agency efforts may serve
to combat arms trafficking to Mexico to some degree, they were not part
of a comprehensive U.S. governmentwide strategy for addressing the
problem. GAO has identified several key elements that should be a part
of any strategy, including identifying objectives and funding targeted
to meet these objectives, clear roles and responsibilities, and
mechanisms to ensure coordination and assess results. We reviewed a
copy of the new National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy,
which ONDCP officials told us will serve as the basic framework, with
an "implementation plan" to follow in late summer of 2009. ONDCP
officials told us that this implementation plan for the strategy will
provide detailed guidance to the responsible agencies and have some
performance measures for each objective. At this point, it is not clear
whether the implementation plan will include performance indicators and
other accountability mechanisms to overcome shortcomings raised in our
report. In addition, in March 2009, the Secretary of Homeland Security
announced a new DHS Southwest border security effort to significantly
increase DHS presence and efforts along the Southwest border, including
conducting more southbound inspections at ports of entry, among other
efforts. However, it is unclear whether the new resources that the
administration has recently devoted to the Southwest border will be
tied to the new strategy and implementation plan.
Recommendations for Executive Action:
To ensure that relevant agencies are better focused on combating
illicit arms trafficking to Mexico, we are making several
recommendations, including that:
* the U.S. Attorney General prepare a report to Congress on approaches
to address the challenges law enforcement officials raised regarding
constraints on the collection of data that inhibit their ability to
conduct timely investigations;
* the U.S. Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security
finalize the Memorandum of Understanding between ATF and ICE, and
develop processes for periodically monitoring its implementation;
* the U.S. Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security take
several steps to ensure improved data gathering and reporting by ATF
and ICE to help identify where efforts should be targeted;
* the U.S. Attorney General and the Secretary of State work with the
Government of Mexico to expedite the dissemination of eTrace in Spanish
to relevant Government of Mexico officials, provide these officials
proper training on the use of eTrace, and ensure more complete input of
information on seized arms into eTrace; and:
* ONDCP ensures its implementation plan for the arms trafficking
chapter of the 2009 National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy
includes the key elements we have identified that should be a part of
any strategy, which were outlined earlier in this testimony.
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
DHS and State commented on a draft of our report and generally agreed
with our findings and recommendations. DOJ and ONDCP did not comment on
our recommendations.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be pleased
to respond to any questions you or other Members of the Subcommittee
may have at this time.
GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments:
For questions regarding this testimony, please contact Jess T. Ford
(202) 512-4268 or fordj@gao.gov. Individuals making key contributions
to this testimony include Juan Gobel (Assistant Director), Joe Carney,
Virginia Chanley, Matthew Harris, Elisabeth Helmer, Grace Lui, and J.
Addison Ricks. Technical assistance was provided by Joyce Evans, Jena
Sinkfield, and Cynthia Taylor. Contact points for our offices of
Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last
page of this testimony.
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] According to U.S. and Mexican government officials, including the
Government of Mexico Attorney General's Office, Mexican law prohibits
the commercial sale or purchase of a firearm; all firearm sales must go
through the Government of Mexico. Officials told us that the
application and sales process takes a long time and that the types of
firearms that Mexican citizens are allowed to possess are limited to
smaller caliber pistols and rifles.
[End of section]
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