Crime Wars. Gangs, Cartels and U.S. National Security

By Bob Killebrew and Jennifer Bernal, September 2010

Criminal networks linking cartels and gangs are no longer simply a crime problem, but a threat that is metastasizing into a new form of widespread,networked criminal insurgency. The scale and violence of these networks threaten civil government sand civil societies in the Western Hemisphere and, increasingly, the United States as well. This report is the product of a yearlong study by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). It seeks to explain the scale of organized crime in keycountries in the Western Hemisphere and provide elements of such a strategy. We make these observations based on research and analysis of regional trends as well as conversations with government and law enforcement officials, in the United States and abroad, on the front lines of this fight. American policymakers, though, have been slow to recognize the evolution of the drug cartels and gangs from a problem for law enforcement to a strategic threat.

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