Magazine article National Defense
Northcom, Mexican Military Sharing Counter-Drug Intel
Article excerpt
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The military-to-military relationship between the United States and Mexico has never been better, said Air Force Gen. Victor Renuart, commander of U.S. Northern Command.
The Mexican government has vowed to take on drug cartels that have spread violence along the border of the two nations, and the U.S. intelligence community is sharing all the information it can with those who are fighting the traffickers, he said at the GeoInt conference in San Antonio, Texas.
"Our relationship with Mexico is growing in leaps and bounds every day," he said.
Furthermore, the highest echelons of the U.S. intelligence community are involved in assisting Mexican authorities, he maintained. That includes Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence James R. Clapper, with whom he closely coordinates what information is passed on to Mexico.
Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair is "aggressively working that [issue] on the national level," he added.
Drug-related violence along the border has increased dramatically during the past year, with an estimated 3,000 deaths attributed to cartels in Northern Mexico. …