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Countering Illicit Networks: The Fight Against Fentanyl, Cargo Threats, and Transnational Crime - Part 1

• Homeland Security & Defense Forum

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Countering illicit networks involves leveraging advanced analytics, intelligence-sharing, and technology to combat the trafficking of fentanyl, secure cargo from threats, and disrupt transnational criminal activities. 

The discussion revolves around the intricate threats facing border security, emphasizing terrorism, drug cartels, and the fentanyl crisis. Key insights highlight the need for collaboration between law enforcement and the private sector to address compliance issues and enhance community safety.

  • Stephen Maloney, Executive Director, National Targeting Center, CBP 
  • Ricardo Mayoral, Assistant Director, International Operations, Homeland Security Investigations 
  • Selwyn Smith, Deputy Assistant Director, Public Safety and Border Security Division, Homeland Security Investigations 
  • Pat Flynn, Director of Business Development, GDIT
  • Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator)

This discussion took place at the HSDF’s Border Security Symposium on December 11th, 2024 

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• Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator):

Tanya Cushman, reviewer. Reviewer. Well, good morning. It is a real pleasure to be here with my very illustrious panel. Good looking too, aren't they?

• Ricardo Mayoral, Assistant Director, International Operations, Homeland Security Investigations :

Oh, thank you.

• Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator):

They clean up nice, so a lot of good panels. This morning we're going to take a little bit of a step back and really talk about threat, to make sure that you all, as partners for not only CBP and HSI, but everybody operating in that border security space understands what's keeping these guys up at night and what opportunities, what challenges they're trying to solve, what opportunities there are out there and what tools they're excited about. So let's dive in. So my first question is the one that when I was at CBP, which I was for 30 years, I had to think about every day and that is what is keeping me up at night. So, Steve, I'm going to start with you and ask you what is it today that's keeping you up at night?

• Stephen Maloney, Executive Director, National Targeting Center, CBP :

Thank you, brenda, and first of all thank you for inviting me to be here For me. I'm the executive director of the National Targeting Center. Cbp's primary mission is counterterrorism and it will remain that, and so the threat from terrorism certainly keeps me up at night. I mean that's a primary focus for me as the executive director. The threat environment is very real. It's very significant. You've seen in reporting arrests that have been made here in the United States, plots that have been disrupted, so that is certainly a threat. The threat from state actors quite honestly, you know, these days utilizing some of the similar means as foreign terrorist organizations is a threat.

• Stephen Maloney, Executive Director, National Targeting Center, CBP :

Fentanyl is something that we do talk about a lot and has gotten a fair amount of publicity. But all synthetic opioids nitazines, xylizines what's happening is the drug cartels are making this stuff stronger and there's certainly challenges that we face. You know there's certainly challenges that we face. I mean I'm very proud of the women and men at the National Targeting Center who you know traditionally for the past 20 years have risen to those challenges and continue to do so and sort of look forward to talking a little bit more today about how we do that and how industry can help, because it's really a partnership with industry that we need to tackle these threats that we face.

• Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator):

So, steve, I'm going to put you on the spot.

• Stephen Maloney, Executive Director, National Targeting Center, CBP :

Sure.

• Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator):

And I'm going to ask about a particular threat. So my background is trade and a lot of times when CBP talks about its mission set, we focus on the people coming through and the terrorism threat around cargo.

• Stephen Maloney, Executive Director, National Targeting Center, CBP :

Yes.

• Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator):

For me, a lot of it was trade compliance. Yep, and you know are importers following the laws around forced labor or anti-dumping and countervailing duty, which I know is another thing that you know we enforce to protect the American public From your perspective.

• Stephen Maloney, Executive Director, National Targeting Center, CBP :

Where does the trade threat fall? So certainly air cargo right now is significant and part of that is because of visibility into the sender and receivers of these packages. So think about e-commerce and I'll share a couple of statistics with you. Five years ago, you're looking at 160 million packages coming in. Last year, 1.4 billion. Think about that 4 million per day.

• Stephen Maloney, Executive Director, National Targeting Center, CBP :

Now why does this matter to you all? And it does matter to you all because all of you get on airplanes, right. You all fly different locations. Some of you have the privilege of flying internationally and coming through US Customs and Border Protection and I hope many of you are global entry members. If you're not, I encourage you to be that.

• Stephen Maloney, Executive Director, National Targeting Center, CBP :

But when you're on that aircraft and think about this statistic for a second, 30% of air cargo travels on passenger aircrafts you go through an immense amount of screening and security to board that aircraft. Don't you want that same amount of scrutiny on the cargo that's beneath you on that aircraft? So when you hear discussions and debates about the amount of data that US Customs and Border Protection is requesting when it comes to de minimis shipments those shipments under $800. There's a reason for that Because certainly in the counter fentanyl fight, and effectively. You know, with my partners here at HSI, we've worked with our international partners to combat some of that in the express consignment modality and in mail. But there's still opportunities to move precursor chemicals, there's still opportunities to move pill press and dye sets across cargo, and that's a real threat.

• Stephen Maloney, Executive Director, National Targeting Center, CBP :

And so where do you and industry come into play? Because we still need trade to move quickly, but it needs to be compliant. But it needs to be compliant and it needs to be safe. And to your point on forced labor, without that data it's very hard to trace that back to particular regions in certain countries where forced labor is prevalent, and I mean, none of us want to buy gifts for our children at the holidays that were made by forced labor. And so the more information that we have, the better we all are going to be. And I think within industry you all can operate at the speed of mission. You can make technological advances that we can't necessarily make as quickly in government. The process itself is burdensome, if you will, and so we need to work together at the earliest stage as possible to address some of these threats.

• Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator):

Excellent overview. Thank you, selwyn. I'm going to turn to you as really the brother, the sister agency of CBP. You work hand in glove. I know, with Steve and a number of other CBP colleagues For you what keeps you up at night.

• Selwyn Smith, Deputy Assistant Director, Public Safety and Border Security Division, Homeland Security Investigations :

Yeah, thank you, brenda, for the question and I'm happy to be here to share my thoughts. So for me just to piggyback off of Steve, it's the cartels, it's the transnational criminal organizations that are operating in Mexico. What we've seen is all they care about is making a profit, you know, to keep their business models flowing, and they don't care about the safety and the well-being of the American people. It's all about that dollar, and because of that we've seen the fentanyl crisis epidemic blow up and really have a serious impact on the American population.

• Selwyn Smith, Deputy Assistant Director, Public Safety and Border Security Division, Homeland Security Investigations :

The slogan one pill can kill is real right, and I'm sure some of the folks in this room may have experienced that through friends and family, may have experienced that through friends and family. You know, overdoses for kids, not realizing how serious this is, and so, looking at that challenge, you know from the supply chain, china sending precursors to Mexico, manufacturing into fentanyl and then smuggling across the border. That's really what we HSI, cbp. We look for future technologies right to get us ahead of these cartels and what they're doing. We've dealt with encrypted communications, we've dealt with all kind of new technologies that these cartels are willing to employ, and so now we have to stay ahead of them and figure out how to best address those concerns.

• Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator):

And the cartels don't have an acquisition process that they've got to work through.

• Selwyn Smith, Deputy Assistant Director, Public Safety and Border Security Division, Homeland Security Investigations :

No, they do not. And again, it's about that dollar right and like, for instance, over the the last several months we've seen overdose rates rates decrease about 10 to 12 percent and that's because that's a whole of government approach. Right, it's from from using pressuring China to schedule precursor drugs, from law enforcement all working together to to make seizures and and again impact the precursors in Mexico before they get to the cartels and come across the border. But outreach and prevention right. Talking to kids, letting them know one pill can kill, and providing those resources to private industry partners Right. And and making sure they know their customers and when they're importing this stuff into the country. So, yeah, right.

• Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator):

Thank you. Well, ricardo, someone and Steve have both talked about international Thank you, that's your sweet spot that was supposed to be my area.

• Stephen Maloney, Executive Director, National Targeting Center, CBP :

Yeah, well, I'm kidding.

• Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator):

Give us a little bit of perspective on the threat in the international environment.

• Ricardo Mayoral, Assistant Director, International Operations, Homeland Security Investigations :

So thank you for having me, it's a pleasure. You don't have to, we don't have to adjust the microphone or anything. I have an accent, so there's nothing wrong with the microphone, it's just the way I speak. Like Brenda was saying, I'm the Assistant Director for International Operations and let me start with, before I start, addressing, what we see, from an SSI perspective, as the major threats internationally that are affecting us here in the United States.

• Ricardo Mayoral, Assistant Director, International Operations, Homeland Security Investigations :

Obviously, you know, terrorism is something that keeps me awake at night for many reasons. Probably the main one is because I was a first responder in 9-11. I was there. I saw the planes hit the Twin Towers, I was there in Ground Zero as part of the rescue effort, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about what I saw. And I was a rookie agent back then and till this day, I mean, the first body, dead body, that I have seen during my entire career was during 9-11. And it wasn't a full body, it was a torso of a person. So obviously that keeps me awake at night. Uh, every day it has for the past 20 plus years.

• Ricardo Mayoral, Assistant Director, International Operations, Homeland Security Investigations :

So that's number one, uh, number two I'll say you know the threat that we're seeing internationally, uh, when it comes to cartels and fentanyl poisoning, uh, that's very personal to uh, to me and to all of us it should be. I mean, I live in Fairfax County and last year alone in Lowndam County nearby, nine kids had to be sent to the hospital from the same high school due to fentanyl poisoning and people talk about. And I want to make the distinction right, and I'm using the term poisoning and not overdose, because I think there has been a misconception out there that you know they die or they went to the hospital because they overdose. No, there's not such a thing as an overdose of fentanyl. You know, one pill, like Mr Selwyn was saying, can actually kill you. Actually, half a pill can kill a kid or somebody that has never taken fentanyl in their lives. And the problem is that you know what is fentanyl. People think, oh, are the kids ordering fentanyl? No, they're not ordering fentanyl online. They're ordering what they think is Adderall or other stimulants for them, you know, for their exams or just to feel high or whatnot. And then they end up getting pills that are laced with fentanyl and just a small amount of fentanyl can actually kill them and that's what we have seen and that's very personal. Right, it has to be personal for us. We all have kids and we all have friends and family members that have struggled with addiction. Uh, just imagine, just one pill can kill, kill them or put them in the hospital. Um, so that definitely uh keeps me awake every night because it's hitting our communities, it's hitting us, you know. It's hitting our neighbors, our loved ones.

• Ricardo Mayoral, Assistant Director, International Operations, Homeland Security Investigations :

So that's number two and number three, and I know we already talked about terrorism and cartel violence and fentanyl, as probably you know, top priorities for the investigation agencies that are here present today, for the best agencies that are here present today. But one thread that I'm seeing not only coming from foreign countries to our borders, but it's being produced within our borders and I think it continues to spread. And maybe because I just got a briefing on one of our investigations is what I will refer to as the exploitation of child exploitation images and child exploitation cases. That we talking about a couple of things right, especially when it comes to and let me put it to you in perspective. Sorry I'm jumping a little bit here, but we spend all this money to protect our borders. We personally spend money on ring cameras, on cameras to our houses, on extra bolts and security systems to our house so no stranger can come in and do harm to our families.

• Ricardo Mayoral, Assistant Director, International Operations, Homeland Security Investigations :

The internet and cell phones and video games is allowing strangers to interact with our loved ones without us not knowing about them, and I'm not trying to pass judgment on any of us, including myself, as to how good are we as parents. There is, it continues to proliferate, the amount of scams and harm that predators are doing to our family and loved ones through the Internet, and this continues to explode and explode, and the threat is not only coming from foreign countries. It's being produced here in the United States, and that's something that I feel obligated to talk more about it, because it can happen to anybody. As a matter of fact, my daughter a couple of months ago, even though she has gone to every presentation that HSI provides, was approached by a stranger online Asking and bringing sexual themes to the conversation, and she immediately told me about it. But it can happen to anybody. But the key to this is we have to talk about it with our kids. We cannot be afraid of engaging our loved ones into those uncomfortable conversations Because it's out there.

• Ricardo Mayoral, Assistant Director, International Operations, Homeland Security Investigations :

There's a lot of kids being scammed.

• Ricardo Mayoral, Assistant Director, International Operations, Homeland Security Investigations :

A you know, teenage boys right, we see it all the time.

• Ricardo Mayoral, Assistant Director, International Operations, Homeland Security Investigations :

A some girl all of a sudden is inviting them, you know, to join them in social media. Pretty picture and whatnot. And the boy gets all excited. All of a sudden the kid is sending pictures of himself naked and whatnot. Next thing you know that girl is not a girl, it's a predator, it's a pedophile, now selling those pictures out on the Internet or trying to get money and blackmail that kid who sent those pictures. It happens every day in the United States and those threats are not only coming from foreign but are being produced here. A lot of sexually explicit pictures of children are being exchanged within the US and being sent abroad and vice versa, and that's something that, as a parent you don't have to be a parent to be scared or worried about it it's something that we all need to be worried about and we need to talk about it, because if we don't talk about that, somebody's going to be talking to our kids about it and it can hurt them. So those are the things that Scary stuff.

• Ricardo Mayoral, Assistant Director, International Operations, Homeland Security Investigations :

It is.

• Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator):

Really scary stuff, thank you, the three of you for really giving us a picture of what that next level down is. Some of this doesn't get the high-profile press. Some of it does. My microphone is not working. Is that right, Okay?

• Ricardo Mayoral, Assistant Director, International Operations, Homeland Security Investigations :

All right.

• Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator):

I want to do a quick lightning round. If you had to name your top challenge in managing these threats, what would it be? Selwyn, I'm going to start with you, because then we're going to move on to what are the opportunities and partnerships that can help you solve that challenge.

• Selwyn Smith, Deputy Assistant Director, Public Safety and Border Security Division, Homeland Security Investigations :

All right, I'll try to be quick because Ricardo was very lengthy there. But besides fentanyl, the number one challenge I have right now that everyone can probably appreciate is dealing with Tren de Aragua, which is TDA, the Venezuelan gang that's kind of migrated through South America and now here in the United States. That's a challenge because under my mission space I have our national gangs and violent crimes unit. So I deal with the strategy for HSI to kind of attack or combat this organization. And so it's a challenge because this group is not like other transnational gangs that we've had to deal with, like MS-13 and SIR-13 and other gangs. We use our removal process to send these folks, when they commit a crime in the US, back to whatever country they come from.

• Selwyn Smith, Deputy Assistant Director, Public Safety and Border Security Division, Homeland Security Investigations :

The issue with this group is we don't have a relationship with Venezuela, and so now it's where do we send these folks without locking them up for a crime they've committed or detaining them for a certain amount of time? At a certain point they have to either be released or we have to find a way to get them to another country outside the United States. So in dealing with this organization I have to deal with not only the strategy on mitigating the violence, the other crimes that they commit in the US, but also figuring out ways with our partners what we do with them once we have them, once they've served time or some type of incarceration, what do we do with them once they're done and where do we put them.

• Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator):

Great. Thank you, Ricardo. I'm going to ask you next Lightning round what's your biggest challenge?

• Ricardo Mayoral, Assistant Director, International Operations, Homeland Security Investigations :

My biggest challenge as an investigator is the management of the investigative data that we're collecting and I know you know I'm preaching to the choir here because I know we have the private sector very well represented here but that's become the biggest challenge for our agency and for every other investigative agency out there the amount of collections that we do, what do we do with it? How do we analyze it. So that is something that, to me, it's something that we need to address better.

• Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator):

That's a great answer, steve.

• Stephen Maloney, Executive Director, National Targeting Center, CBP :

So I would simply say the ability to operate at the speed of mission right, because the threat changes to Smitty's point about TDA a significant threat that we're addressing and I give credit to our CTO, sunil, and our whole OIT at CBP that is able to operate as quickly as possible, but still, because of the procurement process, because of some of those items that are baked in the technology that we may procure, you know, advances quicker than our ability to procure it, and so that's why, with industry, it's important for us sort of to work hand in hand at the earliest point possible. I know there's a lot of discussion on artificial intelligence, for instance, and that is something that we have to leverage. And I mean, you think about, you know, ricardo's point about the amount of data. I mean, the CBP processes transactionally an immense amount of data and we do it at scale, right, but there are opportunities within there to leverage artificial intelligence, both machine learning, which we have done effectively, I think for 10 to 15 years now, but also generative AI and large language models, but doing that responsibly.

• Stephen Maloney, Executive Director, National Targeting Center, CBP :

You know, and this is where I would also challenge industry, there's an ethical component to this right. Just because we can do something doesn't mean, you know we should do it, and I think there's opportunities for us to work together to leverage that Because, to your point, brenda, earlier, the cartels, the bad actors, those that want to cause us harm they're not constricted by things and they are operating very quickly and it becomes challenging to stay one step ahead of that, and that's why this partnership between government and industry is so critical for us to move forward in the future.

• Brenda Smith, former EAC for Trade, CBP (moderator):

I think you've raised a lot of good themes there and I'm going to give Pat Flynn the opportunity to open on our next question.