On June 15, 2011, the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) officially closed it's facility in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, also on that date, their official website began offering the following message: "This website is no longer maintained and may contain dated information."
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush announced plans to create the NDIC in order to 'consolidate and coordinate all relevant drug intelligence information gathered by law enforcement agencies and analyze it to produce a more complete picture of drug trafficking organizations."
"The mission of NDIC is to provide strategic drug-related intelligence, document and media exploitation support, and training assistance to the drug control, public health, law enforcement, and intelligence communities of the United States in order to reduce the adverse effects of drug trafficking, drug abuse, and other drug-related criminal activity," the website stated.
The NDIC was opened in 1993 and employed roughly 350 researchers and support staff who analyzed data and produced incredibly detailed reports on the nation's drug and gang problems.
Those reports, such as the annual National Drug Threat Assessments, were seen by many as an invaluable resource to law enforcement agencies at every level of government and, in recent years, often provided a very sobering look at the growing influence of the Mexican drug cartels across this country.
Then, something strange happened...
In 2011, the annual report stated that the number of U.S. cities in which Mexican drug cartels were distributing illegal drugs through street gangs had been reduced by no less than 1,500 cities.
In 2010, the National Drug Threat Assessment stated that drugs were being sold on behalf of the cartels in "more than 2,500 cities."
The 2011 National Drug Threat Assessment claimed that the cartels were now only operating in "a thousand U.S. cities."
So, if the report was to be believed, in only one year's time the Obama administration managed to eradicate all of the cartel operatives and street-level dealers from 1,500 cities, resulting in a 60 percent reduction?
Where were the press releases?
Why didn't the Obama campaign talk about this rather astounding feat everyday?
Why wouldn't beleaguered Attorney General Eric Holder brag about this monumental achievement?
Or, was this utterly improbable claim just as absurd as it sounds?
You decide…
The 2010 report:
"Drug Trafficking by Criminal Gangs"
"The influence of Hispanic and African American street gangs is expanding as these gangs gain greater control over drug distribution in rural and suburban areas and acquire drugs directly from DTOs in Mexico or along the Southwest Border.
In 2009, mid-level and retail drug distribution in the United States was dominated by more than 900,000 criminally active gang members representing approximately 20,000 domestic street gangs in more than 2,500 cities."
The 2011 report:
"Transnational Criminal Organizations"
"Mexican-based TCOs were operating in more than a thousand U.S. cities during 2009 and 2010, spanning all nine OCDETF (Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces) regions."
How were cartel smugglers and street dealers completely eliminated from 1,500 U.S. cities without anyone noticing?
Of course, the drug cartels are more powerful than ever and by at least one estimate, achieved operational control over 70 percent of Mexico in late 2011.
Additionally, U.S. law enforcement has been reporting more and more violent encounters with cartel operatives, as was the case last November when Los Zetas gunmen attacked Harris County deputies in a shootout.
At the risk of sounding conspiratorial...Could this be a classic case of 'shooting the messenger' or perhaps, even manipulating the message?
In 2011, The Tribune-Democrat columnist Pedro Vega wrote: "If we allow NDIC to close, we should be prepared as a nation to tolerate a greater organized, though less understood threat, otherwise defined by DEA’s bureaucratic imperative to justify its continued existence, absent the independent 'reality check' provided by the NDIC during the past 17 years."
That preceding statement is not mere speculation, it is a simple fact.
It is also fact that the Mexican drug cartels present a clear and present danger to this country and as is the case with any enemy, intelligence is not only key to understanding your enemy but also to defeating him.
Given the growing threat posed by the cartels and increased drug trafficking throughout the U.S...Why would the Obama administration even consider losing a resource as valuable as the NDIC?
Were election-year politics been above the safety of our citizens?
Read more about the cartels' growing influence:
Cartel violence is here: Teen tortured, beheaded in Oklahoma
Our national parks have been surrendered to the drug cartels
Arizona becoming the heroin hub of the Western Hemisphere
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