Joint Interagency Task Force West (JIATF-W or JIATF West) is a standing United States military joint task force with the mission of combating drug-related transnational organized crime in the Indo-Asia-Pacific. JIATF West's area of responsibility (AOR) is that of United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). JIATF West is one of two Joint Interagency Task Forces with a counter-narcotics mission. The other is Joint Interagency Task Force South. The task force is run as USPACOM's "executive agent" for counterdrug activities providing support to partner nation law enforcement. Approximately 100 active duty and reserve U.S. military forces; Department of Defense civilian employees; contractors; and U.S. and foreign law enforcement agency personnel are members of the task force.
As part of the 2019 Defense Wide Review (DWR) JIATF West was slated for deactivation by FY23. The Senate Armed Services Committee raised concerns with the DWR decision, directing in their conference report of the FY20 NDAA the Secretary of Defense report not later than 180 days after enactment of the NDAA a plan for meeting those continuing roles and responsibilities in the USINDOPACOM AOR through either the continued operation of JIATF West or another mechanism. The committee noted, in part, “ . . . is concerned that the Department of Defense is planning to disestablish JIATF West by fiscal year 2023 . . . furthermore, the committee notes that pre-cursor chemicals used in the production of deadly drugs like synthetic heroin and methamphetamine that threaten the health and safety of American citizens and others around the world originate in and are trafficked from the Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility.” In April 2022, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin signed a memorandum reversing the 2019 DWR decision to deactivate JIATF West.
The Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the United States Department of State describes the task force's mission as to "in cooperation with U.S. interagency and foreign partners, conduct activities to detect, disrupt, and dismantle drug-related transnational threats in Asia and the Pacific in order to protect U.S. security interests at home and abroad."
JIATF West lists its "task force partners" as including the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard; the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS); United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); and the Australian Customs Service, Australian Federal Police, and New Zealand Police.
The current Director of the Task Force as of 12 July 2023 is Rear Admiral Bob Little, USCG.
Mission
Joint Interagency Task Force West executes Department of Defense counterdrug activities on behalf of Commander, U.S. Pacific Command to both defend the Homeland and stabilize the theater by hardening the environment against the growth of transnational crime and disrupting transnational criminal organizations that threaten U.S. interests.
History
JIATF West was first established in 1989 as Joint Task Force-Five (JTF-5). Originally headquartered on Coast Guard Island in Alameda, California; JTF-5 was created under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1989. Title 10 of the U.S. Code Section 124 was signed into law on 19 November 1989 establishing the Department of Defense as the lead agency for the Detection and Monitoring (D&M) of maritime and aerial drug trafficking into the United States directing the DoD to support of U.S. Law Enforcement counterdrug efforts. Additionally, Joint Task Forces Four (JTF-4), Five (JTF-5), and Six (JTF-6) were activated by the department in early calendar year 1989 to carry out this D&M mission. The mission of this group of task forces was soon expanded by Section 1004 of the 1991 National Defense Authorization Act to include ten additional specific categories of support that the department could provide to law enforcement agencies. This authority is in addition to the already assigned mission of D&M and has been continuously re-authorized since 1991.