22 April 2016•Update: 28 April 2016
By Kasim Ileri
WASHINGTON
The White House’s pick to lead military affairs in North America pledged Thursday to visit the U.S. Mexico border to assess how to stop the flow of narcotics into the U.S.
“If confirmed, I think it's incredibly important for me to understand the border. I think it's incredibly important for me to walk the landscape,” said Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson during Senate confirmation hearings.
She is the first woman to be appointed to the helm of a regional command in of the U.S.
Robinson said that she would also talk to Israeli authorities to learn from their experience countering tunnels used by Hamas across its borders, primarily from Gaza, to stop the flow of narcotics into San Diego.
There have been recent local reports that drug smugglers have built half-mile tunnels under the Mexican border to use for the transfer of narcotics.
Robinson described American youth’s increasing demand for heroin and other drugs, as “hearth wrenching,” adding that she would “put an eye on it.”
Tapping on a range of issues that would come under her responsibility as head of Northern Command, Robinson said she would be coordinating federal as well as local agencies in securing the southern border.
“I do want to meet with my [Mexican] military counterparts to determine what we can do together.”
She said one of her areas of focus would be the sharing of intelligence across all agencies in dealing with “homegrown violent extremists”, in addition to counter-drug activities.
