convergence

Collaborating to Combat Illicit Networks
lion square miles. Using information from law enforcement agencies, JIATF-South detects and
monitors suspect aircraft and maritime vessels in the Caribbean Basin and eastern Pacific and
then provides this information to international and interagency partners who have the authority
to interdict illicit shipments and arrest members of transnational criminal organizations.
In 2010, JIATF-South and international and interagency partners were directly responsible
for interdicting 142 metric tons of cocaine and 3,419 pounds of marijuana and making 309
arrests, denying transnational criminal organizations an estimated $2.8 billion in revenue. 52
According to the 2011 publication Joint Interagency Task Force–South: The Best Known,
Least Understood Interagency Success, the accomplishments of JIATF-South over the past two
decades can be attributed to the following lessons learned:
• Get a mandate from higher authority. The mission and team had sufficient legitimacy
with a clear mandate from senior civilian and military authorities.
• Tailor a holistic solution set to a discrete problem. The mission was discrete and clearly
identified (stop drug trafficking from entering the United States) with measurable
outcomes (that is, number of arrests, interdictions, vessels boarded, and drug confiscations).
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