First, the Defense Department has argued that it faces competing priorities. It is true that attack aircraft, cruise missiles, and other sophisticated hardware are not particularly useful in going after the dispersed threat of maritime narcotics trafficking. As successful as the United States was in Colombia, narcotics production and trafficking never ended, so the mission remained. Over the years, this threat has affected both US and Colombian law enforcement communities. The Defense Department missed an opportunity then, and it is capable of supporting interdiction today.