The Defense Department's deputy assistant secretary for counternarcotics and global threats addressed an off-the-record Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. The following is an excerpt from his prepared remarks.
"The U.S. government has, for decades, dedicated significant resources to stemming the flow of illicit drugs into the United States, and my office leads the Department of Defense's contributions to that side of the effort. But what our government is in the process of learning is that our traditional focus on countering drug trafficking organizations must be expanded to a wider perspective that recognizes that narcotics trafficking is one component of the broader challenge of transnational organized crime. As we undergo this change in perspective, we are in the process of adjusting our policies toward disrupting and degrading global criminal networks that do far more than traffic drugs..."
