Dale Brown: Edge of Battle

permiso (colloquial term)—order to appear before a judge for a deportation hearing. Mostly issued to illegal immigrants from countries where deportation is difficult or expensive (see OTMs).

PLF—parachute landing fall

SAC—special agent in charge

SAM—surface-to-air missile

SOP—standard operating procedures

SOW—U.S. Air Force Special Operations Wing

SUV—sport utility vehicle

TA—technical area

TEMPER—tent, modular, personnel

TFR—temporary flight restriction

Top—unit first sergeant

TZD—technical zone delta

UAV—unmanned aerial vehicle

UN—United Nations

USCIS—United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (formerly INS)

UXO—unexploded ordnance

wilco—“will comply”

REAL-WORLD NEWS EXCERPTS

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (www.darpa.mil), August 2000—Human Identification at a Distance: The HumanID program objective is to develop automated multimodal surveillance technology for identifying humans at a distance, thus allowing for early warning of possible terrorist attacks. Technologies will be developed for measuring (and collecting) biometric features that will identify an individual from a distance of more than 15 feet, operating twenty-four hours per day in all weather conditions. The resulting probability of detection should be 0.99; the probability of false alarm should be 0.01 given a database of up to a million known individuals.

HumanID will focus on four essential elements or components of technical research: technology development to solve HumanID tasks, database collection, independent evaluations, and scientific experiments to assess validity of these technologies. The program will provide tools for crucial aspects of countering asymmetric threats including automatic cataloging of repeat visitors, automated detection of known suspects, accelerated interdiction, and collection of forensic evidence when attacks do occur. If successful, HumanID will make security personnel more effective in identifying people who may have harmful intent, and will allow early warning to expedite interdiction.

MEXICO PROVIDES GUIDE TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION—FOX News, January 5, 2005—Los Angeles—Mexican immigrants hoping to cross the Mexico-U.S. border can use an illustrated guide to help them break U.S. immigration laws and live in the United States illegally.

The thirty-two-page booklet, free with popular comic books and advertised at bus stations and government offices south of the border, comes courtesy of the Mexican government.

…The book’s main focus seems to be instructing people on how to cross the border safely. For example, it warns Mexicans that when crossing the border, “thick clothing increases your weight when wet and makes it difficult to swim or float” and “if you cross in the desert, try to walk when the heat is not as intense…”

…The guide also gives advice on how to live unobtrusively in the United States, advising illegals not to beat their wives or go to loud parties because either action may attract the attention of police.

INCREASING VIOLENCE ON THE U.S.-MEXICAN BORDER—Strategic Forecasting Inc., www.stratfor.com February 3, 2005—The U.S.-Mexican border in Arizona has seen an increase in illegal activity. In a recent change of tactics, smugglers have been using snipers, who shoot at U.S. Border Patrol agents, ostensibly to provide a diversion to cover illegal border crossings. While the agents go for cover, a shipment of drugs or possibly undocumented immigrants slips through in a sport utility vehicle…

THE UNITED STATES, MEXICO, AND CROSS-BORDER BLOODSHED—Copyright © 2005, Strategic Forecasting Inc.—…[Osiel Guillen] Cardenas, who runs the Juárez-based Gulf Cartel from prison, has resolved to take over the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix cartel. To that end, he has deployed his chief enforcers—“Los Zetas”—to Tijuana. Mexican government sources say Cardenas plans to wipe out the remnants of the Arellano Felix family and its top competitor, Ismael Zambada, in one bold move, thereby giving him control of the drug trade on Mexico’s Pacific coast.

… Los Zetas —who have highly skilled military experts among them—can be expected to operate with a higher degree of precision than less-capable killers. One FBI official has referred to Los Zetas as “an impressive bunch of ruthless criminals.” Los Zetas also use heavy weaponry—AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles—meaning they often have more firepower than local police. Although their brazen methods have generated a high level of alarm among law enforcement officials, Los Zeta’s tactical skill and meticulous planning will make it more difficult for law enforcement to detect, track and interdict them…

U.S. AUTHORITIES CHARGE 18 WITH RUSSIAN WEAPON-SMUGGLING PLOT—© 2005, The Associated Press, March 15, 2005—U.S. authorities have charged 18 people with weapons trafficking, including an alleged scheme to smuggle grenade launchers, shoulder-fired missiles and other Russian military weapons into the U.S.

The arrests resulted from a year-long wiretap investigation that used a confidential informant posing as an arms trafficker selling weapons to terrorists, the office of U.S. Attorney David N. Kelley said Tuesday.

Kelley said in a statement that the defendants also are charged in a criminal complaint with conspiring to traffic in machine guns and other assault weapons, and with selling eight such weapons during the investigation…

MEXICO PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT, April 26, 2005, U.S. Department of State—…Violent criminal activity fueled by a war between criminal organizations struggling for control of the lucrative narcotics trade continues along the U.S.-Mexico border. This has resulted in a wave of violence aimed primarily at members of drug trafficking organizations, criminal justice officials, and journalists. However, foreign visitors and residents, including Americans, have been among the victims of homicides and kidnappings in the border region.

A power vacuum within criminal organizations resulting from the imprisonment of several of their leaders along the Mexico-U.S. border continues to contribute to a deterioration of public safety in the region. In recent months, the worst violence has been centered in the city of Nuevo Laredo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, where more than 30 U.S. citizens have been kidnapped and/or murdered in the past eight months and public shootouts have occurred during daylight hours near frequented shopping areas and on streets leading to the international bridges. One of the shootouts spilled onto the Mexican side of the bridge itself. Four police officers have been killed in Nuevo Laredo since March. Mexico’s police forces suffer from lack of funds and training, and the judicial system is weak, overworked, and inefficient. Criminals, armed with an impressive array of weapons, know there is little chance they will be caught and punished. In some cases, assailants have been wearing full or partial police uniforms and have used vehicles that resemble police vehicles, indicating some elements of the police might be involved…

INCREASING DANGER ON THE U.S.-MEXICAN BORDER, © 2005, STRATFOR, www.stratfor.com, June 14, 2005—Mexican President Vicente Fox ordered Mexican army troops and federal agents to detain all 700 officers of the Nuevo Laredo police force June 13 and assume policing duties in the town, just across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas. The move, which came in response to a breakdown of law and order in the city, will be extended to other border towns, authorities said. It is indicative of the serious deterioration in the security situation along the U.S.-Mexican border.

…Growing anti-U.S. sentiment in Mexico, stoked by election-year rhetoric and negative publicity over a group of American vigilantes that organized its own border patrol in Arizona, also contributes to a dangerous situation for Americans on the border. To further complicate the situation, the so-called Minutemen are soon to expand their activities from Arizona into New Mexico and Texas.