ONDCP Excel Sixty-Ninth Row

Although many of these drug-trafficking routes are well known, the volume of traffic makes it difficult to interdict this trade. Further, drug traffickers have shown great resourcefulness in building into all types of vehicles hidden compartments that are often difficult and time-consuming for law enforcement officers to locate. To combat this threat, DEA funds training in contraband detection. The HIDTA program, through its Domestic Highway Enforcement initiative, funds specialized equipment, training, intelligence-sharing activities, and operational travel and overtime expenses to increase manpower focused on highway interdiction. This initiative engages all 48 contiguous states in joint operations planning and intelligence sharing with each other and with Federal agencies, primarily through EPIC. It is vital for Federal agencies to facilitate exchange of information throughout drug-, money-, and weapons-trafficking corridors. Although trafficking patterns do change, drugs that, for example, end up in Atlanta generally enter the United States through the southeastern parts of the Texas border with Mexico. Drug-related violence often follows along such trafficking corridors. Thus, it is extremely productive for law enforcement authorities from trafficking corridors to meet and exchange information on their drug investigations. To broaden knowledge of trafficking organizations and to ensure quick exchange of investigatory leads on targets, Federal agencies will coordinate gateway/destination initiatives with State, local and tribal law enforcement partners throughout the year. Departments and agency task forces will increase collaboration among Federal, State, and local law enforcement working against a common threat in key drug-trafficking corridors.