Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Homeland Security Blog: Drug Tunnel Shut Down Near San Diego

Drug tunnels are a homeland security issue. While many people might thing the drugs being brought into this country don't possess a threat to their daily lives, the opposite is true. Drug tunnels can facilitate the transport of more than just drugs. In fact,these tunnels are also often used to facilitate smuggling of illegal aliens and, potentially, terrorists and weapons of mass destruction. This can potentially impact everyone, not only those buying or selling the drugs.

This past Thursday the DHS announced they had discovered a newly completed tunnel that connected a warehouse in Tijuana, Mexico with a building in San Diego’s Otay Mesa industrial park stretched the length of nearly six football fields. The tunnel was equipped with lighting, ventilation and an electric rail system. It was described as “the largest, most sophisticated tunnel uncovered along the southern border in two years.”

While the discovery of the tunnel is great news for our country (since we could now close it and recovered the drugs), it isn't that great of news for the DHS. These tunnels are popping up all over southern California. How we assess various issues related to the war on drugs and illegal immigration can impact our national security directly related to potential terrorist threats. This leads to my next question... "are we doing enough to prepare and prevent?"

I might do a webinar covering how one non-national issue can lead to a national disaster. Preventing tunnels from forming is impossible, but we can decrease the rate of which they are forming. The issue itself is too complex to cover in this blog, which is why I have a homeland security book coming out shortly.

I am interested in your thoughts on this discovery and how you think we , as a country, can prevent further tunnels from forming.

Twyla Garrett

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