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In the last three years, the five states that make up the Midwest
HIDTA have experienced a phenomenal increase in the importation, distribution, and
clandestine manufacturing of methamphetamine. The region's central location, numerous
interstate highway systems along with its air and rail hubs enhances its popularity as a
market for Mexican methamphetamine importation and distribution organizations operating
out of the Southwest Border areas. In addition Missouri, Kansas and of late Iowa are
seeing an explosion in the clandestine manufacturing of methamphetamine by small
entrepreneurial users/dealers, primarily utilizing the ephedrine or pseudoephedrine
reduction process. The Midwest HIDTA is integral in the strategy employed by each state to
reduce methamphetamine importation, distribution, manufacturing and related criminal
activity.
In December 1996, the Office
of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Executive Office of the President of the United
States, designated identified counties in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South
Dakota as the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). The Midwest HIDTA
encompasses counties designated by ONDCP:
IowA.
Muscatine, Polk, Pottawattamie, Scott, and Woodbury
Kansas:
Cherokee, Johnson, Labatte, Leavenworth, Saline, Seward, and
Wyandotte
Missouri:
Cape Girardeau, Christian, Clay, Jackson, Lafayette,
Lawrence, Ray, Scott, St. Charles, and the City of St. Louis
NebraskA.
Dakota,
Dawson, Douglas, Hall, Lancaster, Scarpy, and Scott's Bluff
South DakotA.
Clay
Codington, Custer, Fall River, Lawrence, Lincoln, Meade, Minnehaha, Pennington, Union, and
Yankton.
The HIDTA program is not a grant program.
While it does offer funding enhancements, HIDTA is designed to produce a shift in the
scope of cooperative efforts, operational methods, intelligence sharing, and resource
pooling, in the development and implementation of regional strategies and in high value
organizational v. individual targeting. HIDTA is an approach to promote investigator
safety, reduce duplicative efforts, and increase coordination, collocation, cooperation,
and technological advancements.
Mission
Statement
The mission of the Midwest HIDTA is to measurably reduce and disrupt the importation,
distribution, and clandestine manufacturing of methamphetamine in the five state region
and other parts of the United States, thereby reducing the impact of illicit drugs and
related violent criminal activity. The initiatives of the Midwest HIDTA support ONDCP's
National Drug Control Strategy which addresses the need to increase the safety of
America's citizens by substantially reducing drug-related crime and violence.
Composition
The Midwest HIDTA Executive Committee is made up of representatives from ten federal
and ten state/local agencies. The Executive Committee provides oversight, policy guidance,
review and approval of all initiatives and budgets submitted to ONDCP. The Executive
Director provides day-to-day program management and serves as a conduit to the
participating states and agencies for directives, policy and related administrative
information required by ONDCP, and the Midwest Executive Committee. Each state has
selected a State Coordinator who, in conjunction with the State Executive Board, oversees
and coordinates the initiatives within each state.
Intelligence
Subsystem
An integral component in the Midwest HIDTA Strategy is the need to enhance and increase
the free exchange of methamphetamine intelligence and investigative information. The
Midwest HIDTA Investigative Support Center (MHISC) will be the mechanism to implement this
enhancement. The MHISC is a multi-agency intelligence task force consisting of federal,
state, and local agencies located within the five state Midwest HIDTA. Located in Kansas
City, Missouri, the MIHSC will be electronically linked to a central location in each of
the states. The MHISC will collect and analyze information from all Midwest HIDTA task
forces and other nonparticipating task forces and agencies. When fully operational, the
MHISC will provide multi-source name checks, post seizure analysis, investigative case
support, toll analysis, charting, graphic work and trend/predictive analysis. The MIHSC
will also provide continual evaluation of the methamphetamine threat to the region,
identifying changes in patterns and trends. By improving the exchange of
intelligence/information through more efficient coordination and communications, the MHISC
will enhance the ability of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to
identify, arrest, and prosecute key members of methamphetamine trafficking organizations
involved in manufacturing and distribution of methamphetamine.
Investigation
Subsystem
The Midwest HIDTA Investigative Subsystem focuses on the identification and immobilization
of individuals and/or organizations involved in the importation, distribution, and
clandestine manufacturing of methamphetamine. Where possible collocated HIDTA
multi-jurisdictional groups have been formed. In rural counties where resources and
manpower are always scarce, HIDTA funding has been utilized to enhance existing
multi-agency task force operations. These task forces target the most significant
individuals in their area involved in the distribution or clandestine manufacturing of
methamphetamine, with the goal of developing OCDETF level cases of major organizations.
Task forces in areas experiencing significant clandestine manufacturing will also target
preferred precursors identifying illicit sources and also developing leads from legitimate
vendors. All task forces will provide input to the Midwest HIDTA Investigative Support
Center.
Forensic
Laboratory Subsystem
The proliferation of methamphetamine trafficking and clandestine manufacturing of
methamphetamine throughout the Midwest HIDTA has severely impacted federal, state, and
local forensic laboratories. The volume of exhibits, particularly those collected from
clandestine laboratory seizures, have adversely affected the efficiency of the
laboratories resulting in backlogs and long delays in processing evidence. These long
processing delays often negatively impact ongoing investigations and prosecutions. In
addition, the workload of the various federal, state, and local laboratories often
prevents their chemists from responding to clandestine laboratory seizures and providing
on-site expert support. Laboratory seizures made without a chemist on-site run a higher
risk of danger to officers and the public, and frequently result in the collection of
unnecessary exhibits thought to be evidentiary. The Federal/State Forensic Laboratory
Enhancement Initiative will provide the needed additional resources to the laboratories in
the region that have been affected the most. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in
conjunction with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will establish a satellite DEA
laboratory at the FDA Laboratory located in the metropolitan Kansas City, Missouri area.
This initiative will also provide enhancement to state/local laboratories in each state
and supports the overall strategy of the Midwest HIDTA
Prosecution
Subsystem
The Prosecution Subsystem interacts with the investigation and intelligence subsystem. The
proliferation of methamphetamine trafficking and clandestine manufacturing in the Midwest
region has resulted in a dramatic increase in federal, state and local investigations and
arrests. The increase in arrests and resulting criminal prosecutions have strained the
resources of the U. S. Attorney's Offices in the seven federal judicial districts in the
region, as well as, many state and local prosecutors offices. The Midwest HIDTA Special
Assistant United States Attorney (SAUSA) Initiative is designed to enhance the resources
of these U.S. Attorney's Offices to ensure that additional methamphetamine cases are
aggressively prosecuted at the federal or state level. Many of the Midwest HIDTA funded
SUASAs will be cross-designated to assist state prosecutors in their area.
Demand
Reduction Subsystem
The Demand Reduction Subsystem will interact and enhance both the investigative and
prosecution subsystems. Through the Midwest HIDTA Demand Reduction Initiative, an effort
will be made to measurably reduce the use of methamphetamine in the five-state area
utilizing a regional strategy augmented by individual state plans. This initiative will
develop a comprehensive public awareness campaign and will assist existing statewide and
community anti-drug coalitions in educating the region's youth, families, and other at
risk groups regarding the consequences of methamphetamine and other illicit drug use. The
Midwest HIDTA Demand Reduction Subcommittee will coordinate regional and statewide
activities with input from the Executive Committee. The initiative will also be
coordinated with ONDCP and the national methamphetamine campaign being developed by
Partnership for a Drug Free America.
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