Multi-Jurisdictional Strategies for Confronting the Criminal Cartels

I2 Group’s Cormac Meiners on Aligning Intelligence in the New Gray Zone

The battle lines against criminal cartels are shifting. No longer treated solely as criminal syndicates, these organizations have been formally designated foreign terrorist groups by executive order in early 2025 — elevating their activities to matters of national security. The move reflects a stark reality: cartels now operate with capabilities once reserved for nation-states, from drones and armored vehicles to sophisticated financial and cyber networks.

For Cormac Meiners, a retired U.S. Army Green Beret who now leads federal engagement for I2 Group, the new classification underscores both the danger and the opportunity. The cartels are more dangerous than ever, but they are also more vulnerable if U.S. and allied intelligence communities can adapt quickly enough to expose and disrupt their networks.

I2 Group is well positioned to help in this transition. Best known for its flagship platform, i2 Analyst’s Notebook, the company has built a reputation over more than 30 years for supplying software that helps defense, law enforcement, and security agencies transform fragmented information into actionable intelligence. From mapping criminal supply chains to uncovering financial facilitators, its technology is designed to help analysts “connect the dots” when adversaries move quickly to conceal them.

In this BizTechReports Executive Vidcast Q&A, Meiners explains why the fight against cartels is best understood as a gray zone conflict — and why success depends on aligning strategy, operations, financial targeting, and technology in ways that match the urgency of the threat. This Q&A has been edited and organized for clarity.

STRATEGIC ASSESSMENTS

BTR: The designation of criminal cartels as foreign terrorist organizations is a dramatic policy shift. Why is this strategically important from an intelligence community perspective?

Meiners: It changes how we think about the threat. For years, cartels were treated as law-enforcement targets — organized crime groups moving drugs and people across borders. But their capabilities have advanced. They now use drones, armored vehicles, encrypted communications, even cyber tools. These are things we typically associate with nation-states, not cartels. Recognizing them as foreign terrorist organizations signals that the U.S. government now sees them as national security threats.

BTR: How does this affect intelligence priorities?

Meiners: It forces us to balance two realities. On the one hand, recently the Department of Defense has been more focused on conventional threats from Russia and China. That means a lot of analytic capacity has been directed at traditional order-of-battle analysis and great-power competition. On the other hand, this designation pulls us back into asymmetric conflict — but unlike the war on terror, these adversaries are financially sophisticated and technologically adaptive. It’s a very different fight.

BTR: You’ve called this a “gray zone conflict.” Can you explain?

Meiners: Gray zone conflicts occupy that space between crime and open warfare. Cartels don’t fit neatly into a single category. They run businesses and logistics networks, but they also deploy violence, influence operations, and technology in ways that destabilize regions. That ambiguity is what makes them so difficult to counter. They exploit the gaps between law enforcement, intelligence, and military jurisdictions.

OPERATIONAL IMPERATIVES

BTR: You’ve said this isn’t just a military fight, but also a law enforcement effort. How does that play out operationally?

Meiners: It’s a hybrid mission. Military assets can help secure borders, monitor airspace, and track supply chains. Law enforcement has the authorities to make arrests, prosecute cases, and disrupt financial networks. Success requires integration. That means federal, state, and local agencies working hand in hand with each other and international partners.

BTR: Are we seeing progress on that front?

Meiners: Definitely. There’s a heightened level of cooperation across the region. Mexico, for example, has extradited dozens of cartel leaders to the United States in recent years. That represents a level of bilateral coordination we didn’t see in the 1980s or 1990s. It’s a sign that governments understand the scale of the threat and are willing to work together more aggressively despite what the interpretation in the press may be concerning the relationship.

BTR: Where does technology come in?

Meiners: Technology is an enabler which helps partnerships between nations be more effective. Different agencies and nations often have different systems. If the platforms aren’t interoperable, cooperation stalls. That’s where I2 Group contributes. Analyst’s Notebook is widely deployed throughout not only domestic agencies, but also partner nations, giving partners a common framework for mapping relationships, sharing data, and visualizing networks. It creates a shared analytic language.

BTR: Can you illustrate what interoperability looks like?

Meiners: Sure. Traditionally, investigators might email each other link charts or spreadsheets and then manually combine information. That works to a point, but it’s slow and fragmented. With enterprise-level deployments, you can create shared databases where analysts in different locations are working against the same corpus of data. That provides a comprehensive intelligence picture in near real time.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

BTR: Beyond tactical coordination, what are the financial dimensions of the cartel challenge?

Meiners: Counter-threat finance is a key methodology. You can take out a cartel leader, but another will step in immediately. What really sustains these organizations are the facilitators and financial pipelines that move drugs, fuel, weapons, and money. If you cut those pipelines, you disrupt the entire enterprise.

BTR: How does I2 support financial analysis?

Meiners: Our solutions have long been used by banks and financial institutions for fraud investigations and anti-money laundering. Those same capabilities are powerful in the counter-cartel mission. We can map money trails, visualize transfers across time, and identify shell companies or laundering schemes that sustain operations. Our solutions are even being used to target illicit cryptocurrency transfers

BTR: Cartels are diversifying, right?

Meiners: Absolutely. Drugs are still core, but they’re expanding into other revenue streams. Fuel theft is now the second largest source of income for some groups. Human trafficking, cybercrime, and arms smuggling all generate revenue. Each of those activities creates a financial network — and each is a vulnerability if we can expose and disrupt it.

TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

BTR: Given the scale and sophistication of today’s cartels, what does a strong technological response to these challenges look like?

Meiners: A good response starts with platforms that can keep pace with the adversary. That means tools that handle large and diverse data sets, integrate information from multiple sources, and allow analysts to collaborate across agencies and borders. It’s not just about collecting data — it’s about turning that data into insight quickly enough to inform decisions in real time. The technology also has to be adaptable, because adversaries are constantly changing their tactics. Flexibility, interoperability, and scalability are the hallmarks of a system that can meet this challenge.

BTR: Let’s talk about technology more specifically. What advancements have been made to ensure Analyst’s Notebook keeps pace with today’s complex intelligence requirements?

Meiners: Analyst’s Notebook has continued to evolve to meet the demands of modern intelligence analysis. With version 10, we’ve added a host of updated entities links and properties to reflect the modern world, automated unstructured text processing and the ability to handle larger amounts of data. We’ve also added a host of solutions that extend the capability of Analyst’s Notebook to include automation, connectivity to intelligence sources and big data scalability. These capabilities allow analysts to move beyond traditional link charts and tackle the scale and complexity of today’s data environment. It’s a platform designed not just to keep up, but to anticipate the technological requirements of emerging threats.

BTR: How does this address cartel threats specifically?

Meiners: Cartels are adapting quickly. They’re using drones for assassinations. They’re outsourcing cyber operations to Russian actors. They’re importing mercenaries with battlefield experience from conflicts like Ukraine. To counter that, we need analytic tools that model supply chains, assess counterintelligence risks, and track cyber vulnerabilities. Our software is built to do exactly that.

BTR: Can you provide an example of how these capabilities are applied?

Meiners: Take unmanned aerial systems. Cartels now deploy drones to monitor law enforcement or carry out attacks. Our tools can map supply chains for those systems — identifying who is selling parts, where components are sourced, and how the logistics flow. That allows agencies to disrupt procurement, not just respond on the battlefield.

BTR: What about training?

Meiners: Training is critical. Over time, we’ve seen intelligence schools reduce the number of days allocated to platform training. Analysts get exposure to the basics, but not the full range of capabilities. That leaves value on the table. By embedding training within I2 itself — through direct sessions, webcasts, and user engagement programs — we ensure analysts understand everything the platform can do. If cartels are adapting fast, analysts must be trained just as quickly and thoroughly to stay ahead.

BTR: How does AI fit into this evolution?

Meiners: Artificial intelligence promises to reduce some of the training burden by automating tasks that once required manual effort. Advances in natural language processing also break down barriers to accessing key features, enabling analysts to work more intuitively with complex tools. Moving into production environments, AI-augmented intelligence professionals are better focused and far more productive. I see AI not as a replacement for human judgment, but as a force multiplier that accelerates the intelligence cycle.

BTR: How does I2 approach AI development?

Meiners: We’re building AI into our solutions while maintaining open architecture. That means customers can integrate our tools with other AI systems they adopt. We don’t want to be a black box. We want to work in conjunction with the rest of the analytic ecosystem.

Concluding Thoughts:

Criminal cartels have evolved from flamboyant crime families flaunting wealth on social media to disciplined organizations practicing operational security and leveraging military-grade technology. That makes them more dangerous than ever. Yet, as Meiners points out, it also makes them more vulnerable — provided the U.S. and its partners align their intelligence capabilities to expose critical facilitators, financial pipelines, and supply chain dependencies.

The designation of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations by executive order in early 2025 underscores the urgency of that mission. The challenge ahead is to blend military rigor with law enforcement persistence, and to harness advanced analytics and AI in ways that match the speed of adversary adaptation.

As Meiners puts it, the tools are ready — the question is whether agencies can align skills, systems, and partnerships fast enough to stay ahead of adversaries who are already learning.

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