My world -- the world of intelligence operations -- is one Americans do not see.  It is made up of a constant succession of moves and countermoves.  I've been retired from the outside paramilitary branch of the CIA for a number of years, and that fact set me to thinking of people such as me who may also be out of the game officially, but unlike me are hiring out to the highest bidder. Along our borders, these people are working still, and not just for the garden-variety drug smuggler.

In the prosecution of the Global War against Terror (GWOT) the current debate over the security of U.S. borders is an argument that many, including myself, cannot comprehend. Those of us from the intelligence world have for years been beating our chests and yelling at the top of the mountain that this great nation was slowly, methodically being penetrated by terrorist’s from around the world. The terrorists waltzing across our borders today are not drug cartel mules successfully smuggling tons of cocaine or pot in to virtually every city in America.  They are highly trained, highly skilled, former intelligence operatives employed by nations that are what the State Department calls, "State sponsors of terrorism." 

The drug cartels that I worked against over 25 years ago were interested only in the American dollar. As cunning and ruthless as the South American drug cartels were then (and still are today they understand that attacking the United States with bombs and IED's will spell the demise of their most profitable distribution outlet.  Having worked against organized crime cartels worldwide including the Middle East, Central and South America, the Far East and in Central Asia, I have seen first hand the vast depth of the criminal pool that is available for hire and how their mission statement has changed.  Smuggling of narcotics across our Southern border has expanded to include the smuggling of humans and nuclear triggers and devices. Mexico has become the headquarters for terrorists to recruit, proselytize and raise money. The operation and growth of terrorist cells in Central and South America is alarming. Who are these people, my former counterparts, who are working for these sponsors of terrorism? That is an easy question to answer and the answer is even easier to prove. 

The Iranian secret police, formerly SAVAK under Shah Reza Pahlavi, has been replaced by the theologically correct SAVAMA or (VEVAK) (Ministry of Intelligence and National Security). In 1979 when the Grand Ayatollah Khomeini ended the almost 40 year rule of Shah Reza Pahlavi during the Islamic revolution he simply changed the name from SAVAK to SAVAMA. The new intelligence service was a mirror of the old only now the newly named and reconstituted SST (State Sponsored Terrorist's) Intelligence service worked for the Ayatollah. In 1991 VEVAK would eventually reach out and assassinate the leader of the National Resistance Movement of Iran, Shapour Bakhtiar. Bakhtiar was the last Prime Minister under the Shah of Iran. Testimony at the the trial of one of the assassins would point directly to the Iranian government as having ordered the hit. As recently as 2005, a major Iranian smuggling ring was broken up near the Mexican-U.S. border. Evidence would later show that over 60 Iranians were smuggled across the border. 

The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (also Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI) is the largest and most powerful of the three Pakistani Intelligence Services. It was determined that ISI was the mastermind of the July 11, 2006 Mumbai, India train bombings which killed over 200 people in the Indian financial center.  ISI is a working model of the Iranian secret police, SAVAK and were initially trained by the CIA and French Intelligence. ISI has been accused of having an incestuous relationship with the Taliban and being very sympathetic to their cause.  Although ISI is vital to our continuing intelligence in Afghanistan, they have been linked to political assassinations, arms smuggling, including nuclear and missile technology and of course, narcotics smuggling. 

(CISEN) (National Security and Investigation Center) Mexican Intelligence is only one of approximately 17 different intelligence organizations in Mexico. The diligence and hard work of many in CISEN has been compromised by corrupt operatives who have deep, long standing ties to the drug cartels and organized crime families. Mexican Federal Police are notoriously corrupt and have been directly linked to the abduction, torture and murder of DEA agents.  For over 20 years US law enforcement personnel stationed in Mexico have been the targets of drug cartels and the Federal Police. In 1985 Special Agent Enrique Camarena and Mexican Captain Alfredo Zavala were kidnapped and tortured by corrupt Mexican law enforcement, military and the powerful drug cartels.
In 1986 DEA Special Agent Victor Cortez and DEA informant Antonio Garate-Bustamante were abducted and tortured. Though they were eventually released the bravado and total disregard for US law enforcement was evident.

Hezbollah, with the exception of the 9/11 attacks, is responsible for more American deaths than any other terrorist organization in the world.  Funded, supplied and trained by Iran, Hezbollah is no longer a terrorist organization limited to death and mayhem in the Middle East. U.S. intelligence has known for some time that Hezbollah has penetrated all major cities in the US. The FBI broke up a Hezbollah smuggling ring in Mexico which smuggled everything from cigarettes and weapons to credit cards and narcotics. In 1984 Hezbollah kidnapped, tortured and murdered CIA Beirut Station chief, William Buckley. In April 1983 Hezbollah bombed the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63, including 19 Americans.  FBI Director Robert Mueller has admitted in testimony that he believes suicide bombers inside of the US were inevitable.

Russian KGB -- FSB -- GRU are certainly the best known of all of the foreign intelligence services. The CIA and FBI know first hand the involvement of the FSB, formerly, KGB in SST worldwide.  State-sponsored assassinations orchestrated by Russian security services are an every day occurrence. In November 2006, Alexander Litvinenko, a former FSB spy, was murdered using the radioactive poison Polonium 210.  There has been first hand testimony from former FSB agents that Usama Bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was trained by the FSB.  Yassar Arafat was for decades the terrorist operative for the KGB. Russian intelligence has provided training, money and weapons for SST for decades.  It has been widely speculated that the Russians leaked the US war plan to the Iraqi's immediately prior to the invasion.

I have repeatedly warned over the last few years that my counterparts from intelligence services of countries that support SST are seizing this moment in time are hiring out to those who want to attack Americans at home, on our soil. Highly trained and skilled operatives who worship only the dollar are now the modern day gunfighters. They have sold themselves to the terrorist's and cannot be stopped using standard operating procedures of law enforcement. They cannot be seen by those who have not been trained to see them. They will not be stopped by our porous borders. Along with the cocaine and pot, dirty bomb components and nuclear devices will arrive, or have already.

The U.S. has been calm for over 5 years, spared from attack since 9-11.  Those that clamor for securing our borders are right. I fear however, it is too late. The terrorist groups and nations that sponsor them are making their move, hiring the former intelligence operatives whose skills at penetrating our borders are at least as good as those of the people trying to protect it.  So what is our counter-move?

It is not enough to close our borders. That, surely, must be done. But our counter-move must include covert operations -- in both Canada and Mexico -- to discover not only the terrorists but the old intelligence masterminds who can help them enter America with whatever weapons they may have.  We have to deal with these old intel hands the same way we deal with the terrorists.  In my old job, we used to call these, "active measures."