Feds consider expanding Indian tracking service

One of Israel’s greatest strength’s is its ability to leverage its ethnic diversity for defense purposes, sending Africans and Arab-looking agents on assassination missions and employing Bedouins as trackers. Less well know, perhaps, is that the United States has similar programs. Since the 1970s, federal law enforcement officials have maintained a unit of Native American officers who serve a function similar to the Israeli Bedouins. Intended to assist in hunting down drug smugglers, the Shadow Wolves are now taking a lead role in counterterrorism activities, with some even being sent to Central Asia to help train border guards, and efforts are underway to expand the fifteen member unit. One requirement will remain, however: Shadow Wolves agents must be at least one-quarter Indian.

With large homeland security budgets putting the emphasis on advanced but unproven technology, there is something comforting about throwing human wits into the battle. “Detecting is one thing, and apprehending is something entirely different,” said special agent Rodney Irby. And while the Border Patrol has trackers of its own, the Indian agents possess a unique set of skills passed down from generation to generation. “I speak the language, so when we are dealing with elderly members in particular I can make them more comfortable,” said Gary Ortega, a Tohono who has been in the Shadow Wolves for nine years. “They are willing to tell us things they know or see that they may not tell another federal agent or officer.” One sign of success: the Shadow Wolves have seized nearly 30,000 pounds of illegal drugs since October and routinely seize some 100,000 pounds of illegal drugs a year.

-read more in Randal Archibold’s New York Times report