Adm. Stavridis: 'Great Risk' That Drug-Smugglers at Southern Border Could Also Move Terrorists


Retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis testified before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on military readiness on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. (AP File Photo)

By Susan Jones | December 10, 2015 | 11:23 AM EST

(CNSNews.com) - Should Americans worry that drug-smuggling networks operating at the southern border may be used to bring terrorists into the country? Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) asked retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis on Thursday.

"Absolutely, it's something we should be worried about, Senator," he replied. "And I have called this before 'convergence.' And it is the convergence of these drug routes, which are extremely efficient, with the possibility of using them to move terrorists -- or at the really dark end of the spectrum, weapons of mass destruction -- along with the narcotics.

"So when those drug routes and those higher level threats converge, I think we are at great risk."

Stavridis told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the United States needs to "create a network to combat a network."

"This is a very sophisticated, private-public, if you will, collaboration with international abilities ranging from moving submarines with ten tons of cocaine to aircraft, etc. etc. So you need to bring the inter-agency to bear, you need to bring Special Operations to bear, and I think this also argues for merging Northcom (Northern Command) and Southcom (Southern Command), because it creates one sphere through which these routes are coming at us. So there's a quick basket of ideas."

Earlier in the hearing, Stavridis urged the merger of Northcom and Southcom; and the merger of the African and European Commands. He said it's a way to begin reducing the "bloat" in the operational combat and command staffs. (Stavridis is the former commader of EUCOM.)

He also argued that the U.S. military needs to establish a Cyber Command -- "because our vulerabilities in the cyber domain, in my view, are extraordinary and we are ill-prepared for them."

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