Damien Van Puyvelde, Deputy Director of the National Security Studies program at the University of Texas at El Paso, recently published the article “Fusing Drug Enforcement: A Study of the El Paso Intelligence Center” in Intelligence and National Security.
An interagency operation established in 1974, the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) supports drug enforcement efforts, servicing thousands of consumers annually. Situating EPIC in the larger history of fusion efforts in law enforcement, Van Puyvelde discusses its evolution and growth. The article includes a discussion of past literature on EPIC, which Van Puyvelde finds to be limited in that it emphasizes its tactical successes. Van Puyvelde’s assessment of EPIC’s performance and effectiveness focuses on processes, enablers and outcomes. Dr. Van Puyvelde and UTEP’s National Security Studies program are partners with the Intelligence Studies Project in the UT-System’s Texas National Security Network.
Read the full article here.