Mexican drug cartels employ more foot soldiers than Mexican army

way, Mexico could potentially have a national security crisis,” the defense official said. He said the two have amassed so many people and weapons that Mexican President Felipe Calderon is “fighting for his life” and “for the life of Mexico right now.”

As a result, Mexico is behind only Pakistan and Iran as a top U.S. national security concern, ranking above Afghanistan and Iraq, the defense official added.

Independent analysts warn that narco-terrorists have infiltrated the Mexican government, creating a shadow regime that further complicates efforts to contain and destroy the cartels.

In response to the challenge, U.S. and Mexican authorities have stepped up raids on cartel members in both countries. Last week, U.S. and Mexican forces arrested 755 people, including 52 in the United States associated with the Sinaloa cartel. Cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, however, is still at large. He is thought to be living in Sinaloa and protected by hired gunmen and Mexican federal officials on his payroll, said a U.S. law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing intelligence operations.

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) spokesman Garrison Courtney said last week’s raids put a dent in cartel operations but that public attention to the crisis has been long in coming. “If we don’t start paying attention, the violence — which has already spilled into the U.S.— is going to get worse,” Courtney said. “This is a shared interest between the United States and Mexico to go after these drug traffickers.” In recent years, however, U.S. officials have been reluctant to share information with Mexican counterparts, fearing that they will leak to the cartels. DEA officials interviewed by the Times said the Sinaloa cartel employs Mexican federal officials, while other cartels pay off local governments and police. “Many times, what you see isn’t really what’s going on,” said a DEA official, who asked not to be named because of the nature of his work. “Many times the death of federal officers or local police isn’t a cartel making the hit, but the cartels themselves in the government fighting one another. The same thing has happened to the Mexican army, where the cartels have also bought loyalty to move dope into the U.S.”

A U.S. counterterrorism official said, however, that the severity of the crisis was bringing the U.S. and Mexican governments closer and that the CIA will work closely with Mexico if asked for guidance. “Both countries have a common interest in clamping down on the cartels, and that has shaved away some of the underlying historical tensions in what has long been a close relationship with Mexico,” said the official, who spoke on the condition that he not be named. “The Mexicans understand - perhaps more so than at any time in recent memory - that we are genuine about taking these people on.”