Drug Enforcement Expert Jeffrey B. Stamm has had a long and distinguished career in law enforcement. Upon his retirement in 2016, he was appointed to a position with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to coordinate drug control efforts with his local, state and federal drug control counterparts across the U.S. until 2022.
Stamm's 40-year law enforcement career began in Sacramento, California, as a Deputy Sheriff, according to his LinkedIn page. He then joined the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as a Special Agent in 1984. He served in various roles, with assignments all across the globe. Stamm has held significant positions such as “Deputy Chief of International Operations” and “Special Agent in Charge of DEA's Aviation Division.”
Upon retiring from the DEA in 2016, Stamm became the Executive Director of the “Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area” (HIDTA) under the “White House Office of National Drug Control Policy” (ONDCP), overseeing drug control across the American heartland, according to his LinkedIn page. He has garnered many awards, holds multiple degrees, and is fluent in Spanish as well as Brazilian Portuguese.
In an interview with Federal Newsire, Stamm said that Mexican drug cartels are the "world’s most powerful and prolific narco-terrorists who not only control the entirety of the U.S./Mexico border, but those that have their greatest foreign presence outside of their country right here in ours." According to Stamm, Mexican drug cartels sell drugs and conduct other criminal activities, including human trafficking and extortion, in more than 3,000 cities and towns across America.
"We know that nearly all illegal drugs that are trafficked and consumed in the United States are smuggled across our southern border by the various Mexican drug cartels and their allies," Stamm said. "Command and control elements to distribute those drugs within the U.S. are operated by all of the cartels—from Maine to Maui and from the Keys to the Dakotas."
While the cartels have extended their reach across the nation, Stamm says that the southern border is "ground zero" for these threats, and that addressing the issue should begin there.
"As drug trafficking and terrorism increasingly intersect and converge among these zealous and violent cartels, the threat at our southern border is not merely one that involves public health and safety but our very national security," Stamm said. "So, without any doubt, more needs to be done to secure our borders to protect our nation and our people."
Stamm says that the biggest challenge that border security agencies face in addressing the drug crisis at the southern border is the lack of support and political will from U.S. leaders.
"Our dedicated border security professionals are simply being overwhelmed and they need to be supported, not merely with rhetoric, but with policies that are designed to solve the problem, not merely 'manage' it," Stamm said.
Stamm went on to criticize Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador for his soft policies against drug cartels.
"In practice, our own responses to the border crisis seem to mimic the same Mexican appeasement that allow scores of cartel emissaries and gang members to infiltrate the country and then be provided 'sanctuary' in the name of compassion. It’s a model that cannot be sustained," Stamm said.
Cartel strategies have evolved over recent years, impacting border security efforts. Stamm said that cartels have adopted terrorist practices from established terrorist organizations, including the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
"All of the transnational groups have incorporated terrorist tactics to not merely cow and crush all opposition but to intensify and invigorate faith among their members," Stamm said. "It’s important to note that terrorism is not a specific entity or a particular ideology, it’s a tactic, one that is carried out every day by every one of the cartels to better move drugs into the U.S. and to engage in other types of organized crime on a global scale.
To improve profits, cartels have diversified their illegal revenue streams to include other crimes besides drugs, including human trafficking, illegal mining and fishing, theft of crude oil, and the trafficking of endangered species to China, Stamm said. In addition, cartels have increasingly expanded their global reach, often working with corrupt foreign governments, organized crime groups, and terrorist groups.
There is perhaps no more globalized industry than the drug trade," Stamm said. "The Mexicans—particularly the Sinaloa and CJNG cartels—have parasitically capitalized upon global commerce, banking, shipping, and communications to expand their reach by allying themselves with corrupt foreign governments; terrorist groups like the Colombian FARC and Lebanese Hezbollah; and organized criminal groups like the Chinese triads, the Italian Mafia, and even the Hell’s Angels across Europe."
U.S. lawmakers recently introduced a bill to formally designate some Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations (FTO), a move that Stamm thinks would be a step in the right direction.
"It should be done today. Secretary [of State] Blinken should be made to feel the hot demand to do so by the American people," Stamm said. It is way past time to follow precedent and designate every one of Mexico’s drug cartels as FTO’s to bring new tools to bear in what is clearly an existential threat to the American people," Stamm said.
According to Stamm, FTO designation would empower domestic law enforcement agencies with the statutory tools necessary to target individuals providing material support to cartels.
"Thus, anyone selling Sinaloa’s fentanyl, trafficking La Familia’s methamphetamine, or transporting CJNG’s human sex slaves can be prosecuted, their assets seized, and their co-conspirators deported with enhanced urgency," Stamm said. "Moreover, states that pass 'material support' legislation that mirrors federal statutes need no longer rely upon Washington to be able to take such action."
Stamm anticipates that within the next five to ten years, unless the U.S. begins to control our sovereign borders, current trends will become more acute and more difficult to address.
"The overworked and underappreciated professionals in our U.S. Border Patrol and other countless agencies and individuals at the local, state, and federal levels simply trying to enforce our legitimate laws and secure our sovereign borders will be increasingly burdened with an impossible task as shrewd and ruthless criminal and narco-terrorist groups grow more cunning and ruthless," Stamm said. "Unless we support them with the tools and policies necessary to protect our nation, they will be unable to stem the destructive tide."
Stamm's book “On Dope: Drug Enforcement and The First Policeman,” listed on Amazon, features insight on why illegal drugs are so dangerous and why the fight against them needs to continue. The listing states that Stamm provides a realistic perspective on the issue of illegal drug trafficking, putting to rest misleading theories and supporting his claims with real-world examples.
