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Photo of group of Mexican police in unifom with shields and gear; the right side has a dark blue overlay with the UC San Diego branded element of a stylized tridentU.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation Taskforce

Following a very informative conference hosted by the center in February 2018, and in partnership with Justice in Mexico at the University of San Diego, we formed a U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation Taskforce to help inform the course of U.S.-Mexico security cooperation in the coming years.

The purpose of the Taskforce is to help ensure that policymakers are informed and prepared to continue cooperation efforts in a difficult phase in the bilateral relationship, particularly amid emerging challenges related to epidemic levels of opium use, the rise of new organized crime groups and violent crimes targeting ordinary citizens in Mexico.

The Taskforce brings together a select group of respected experts and opinion-makers from both the U.S. and Mexico to offer concrete policy recommendations to elected officials in both countries.

Taskforce Members

United States

  • Jaime Arredondo, Division of Global Public Health, UC San Diego 
  • John Bailey, Director, Mexico Project, Georgetown University 
  • Alan Bersin, Policy Consultant; Former Assistant Secretary in the Office of Policy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security 
  • Enrique Bravo-Escobar, Program Officer, Latin America and the Caribbean, National Endowment for Democracy 
  • Michelle Breslauer, Program Director, Americas, Institute for Economics and Peace 
  • Anthony DaSilva, Deputy Attorney California 
  • Cecilia Farfán-Méndez
  • Vanda Felbab-Brown, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution 
  • Rafael Fernández de Castro, Director, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, UC San Diego 
  • Stephanie Leutert, Director, Mexico Security Initiative, University of Texas at Austin 
  • Eric L. Olson, Deputy Director, Latin American Program and Senior Advisor, Mexico Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center
  • Gema Santamaría, Assistant Professor of Latin American History, Loyola University, Chicago 
  • Dan Restrepo, Center for American Progress; Former Principal Advisor to President Obama on Latin America, Caribbean, and Canada 
  • Octavio Rodríguez, Coordinator, Justice in Mexico, University of San Diego, 
  • David Shirk, Director, Justice in Mexico, University of San Diego 
  • Barbara F. Walter, Professor, School of Global Policy and Strategy, UC San Diego 
  • Earl Anthony Wayne, Public Policy Fellow, Mexico Institute Woodrow Wilson Center; Former ambassador to Mexico 

Mexico

  • Froylán Enciso, Programa de Política de Drogas, CIDE 
  • Luis Herrera Lasso, Policy Consultant; Former Deputy Director of the National Program for Prevention of Crime 
  • Edna Jaime, Director, México Evalúa 
  • Carlos Juárez Cruz, Program Manager, Mexico, Institute for Economics and Peace 
  • Vidal Romero, Chair, Political Science Department, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) 
  • Pedro Salazar, Director, Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas (UNAM) 
  • Jorge Tello Peón, Security Consultant; Former Director of Mexico’s National Intelligence Agency 
  • Guillermo Valdés Castellanos, Policy Consultant; Former Director of Mexico’s National Intelligence Agency

White Paper