A FORWARD BASE COMBATING DRUGS AND CRIMINAL NETWORKS: President Donald J. Trump is visiting the Joint Interagency Task Force South, the task force that saves American lives by overseeing responses to the trafficking of illicit drugs and opioids.
- The Joint Interagency Task Force South’s efforts to dismantle the illicit drug trade has saved countless American lives.
- In the face of record drug production during Fiscal Year 2017, Joint Interagency Task Force South supported the removal of a record 283 metric tons of cocaine and 5 kilograms of heroin, and the detention of 900 suspected members of drug trafficking organizations.
- The Joint Interagency Task Force South is responsible for the detection and monitoring of illicit trafficking to facilitate international and interagency interdictions, and to enable U.S. and partner-nation law enforcement to successfully prosecute and dismantle criminal networks.
- Originally named Joint Task Force Four in 1989, it was renamed Joint Interagency Task Force East in 1994 and merged with the Panama-based Joint Interagency Task Force South in 1999—the command is now a model for joint and interagency coordination.
- The Joint Interagency Task Force oversees an area of 42 million square miles, extending from the Eastern Pacific to the Western Atlantic and from international waters north of the Caribbean Antilles to south of Cape Horn.
- The region covered includes areas with a long history of transnational criminal activity and trafficking in drugs, arms, bulk cash and people.
HUB OF ANTI-TRAFFICKING COORDINATION: Joint Interagency Task Force South is a hub for coordinating drug interdiction efforts not only between more than a dozen U.S. agencies, but also among an international coalition of nations dedicated to stopping the trafficking of illicit drugs.
- 20 different nations partner with the United States on interdiction efforts as a part of the task force, and maintain 25 liaison officers staffed to Joint Interagency Task Force South.
- Partner nations include countries from North America, Central America, South America, Europe, and the Caribbean.
- America’s international partners are credited with 35 percent of the task force’s drug seizures and play an invaluable role in the interdiction efforts of the United States.
- Joint Interagency Task Force South also coordinates with more than a dozen Federal agencies on illicit drug interdiction efforts including:
- The United States Coast Guard.
- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives;
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and
- The Drug Enforcement Administration.
