Month: October 2012

Targeting criminals, not crimes: The kingpin strategy works

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The kingpin strategy is a 20-year-old targeting methodology developed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 1992 to target the command and control elements of major drug trafficking organizations. The strategy initially targeted cocaine trafficking organizations operating out of Medellin and Cali, Colombia, with most of the focus placed on the Cali cartel. As the strategy evolved and resulted in important gains, it was adapted as a model by several foreign nations, namely Colombia and Mexico. Components of the kingpin strategy model are still in use today, though it has been further refined and currently operates under the larger Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime as a means by which to disrupt and dismantle any groups that would bring harm to the national security of United States. Continue Reading →

Are you a political junkie?: A test

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I have a confession to make: I didn’t watch the two first presidential debates live. I did read the transcripts. And, in the case of the first debate between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney, I looked at a recording of the debate a few days later, just to confirm that Obama’s performance was as poor as I had heard. (It was.) Needless to say, I gave the vice-presidential debate a pass. (I’m with John Nance Garner on the vice presidency. It isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit. And I’m not interested in grown men spitting.) I broke my streak by watching Monday’s presidential debate because it was on my own area of interest, foreign policy. Continue Reading →