The 2007 Mérida Initiative marked a major shift in Mexico-US commitment to address transnational organized crime. The organized crime networks view international borders as opportunities, making a profit by operating both as multinational corporations and violent armies. Yet the US-Mexico boundary frustrates law enforcement and military organizations, which suffer from overlapping jurisdictions and competing authorities. This monograph proposes the US-Canada organization of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) as a model for a US-Mexico body to coordinate the law enforcement and military means across borders and across agencies. This monograph explores the development of US security relationships with both its North American neighbors to the north and south, examining how the countries overcame historical social and economic frictions, how the nature of the threat shaped the formation of their existing security cooperation institutions, and proposes the NORAD model as an institutional solution to better coordinate Mexico-US means to address the threat of transnational organized crime.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)