Global Insider: Mexico's New Intelligence Agency Part of Changed Approach to Drug Violence Global Insider
go to original January 29, 2013

Mexico’s new administration recently announced it would create a new national intelligence agency as part of a broader reform of the country’s security sector. In an email interview, Agnes Gereben Schaefer, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, explained the need for a new Mexican intelligence agency.

WPR: What has been the state of Mexico's intelligence apparatus in recent years?

Agnes Gereben Schaefer: In recent years, Mexico’s intelligence apparatus has been splintered across many agencies, including 1,661 local, state and federal police agencies; the military; the attorney general’s office; the Ministry of Interior; the former Ministry of Public Security; and the Center for Research and National Security (CISEN). While the CISEN has been the designated main intelligence agency in Mexico, these other agencies have maintained their own intelligence capabilities, and no single agency has been tasked with consolidating and analyzing all of the intelligence collected across the government. As a result, intelligence collection efforts have been fragmented, and interagency coordination has been a challenge. It was not uncommon for federal, state and local agencies to keep intelligence to themselves and fail to inform one another of operations.
    
WPR: What is the background to the new National Intelligence Center, in terms of its structure, function and capabilities?

Schaefer: The goal of the new National Intelligence Center is to address the interagency coordination challenges that have plagued the Mexican intelligence apparatus. While details about the structure, function and capabilities of the new National Intelligence Center are still scarce, we do know the mission of the new National Intelligence Center will be to act as a central collection point for intelligence collected by Mexico’s police, military, attorney general's office and other federal and state agencies. The new National Intelligence Center will likely be housed in the Interior Ministry and will likely report to the CISEN.

WPR: How does it fit into President Enrique Peña Nieto's broader security reforms?

Schaefer: The creation of a new National Intelligence Center fits squarely into Peña Nieto’s broader goals of increasing efficiency and interagency cooperation across Mexico’s national security agencies. Some reforms have already begun to take shape. For instance, shortly after his inauguration in Dec. 2012, Mexico’s Congress voted in favor of his plans to eliminate the Ministry of Public Security and move the federal police under the Ministry of Interior.

In terms of his overall security strategy, Peña Nieto has indicated that he will move away from former President Felipe Calderón’s goal of dismantling the drug cartels. Instead, he will focus on decreasing drug violence and preventing crime. The creation of the new National Intelligence Center is meant to help consolidate intelligence from across the Mexican government so that it can be leveraged in the government’s evolving efforts to improve public security in Mexico.

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