Ben Rhodes

The problem with fentanyl is that it is easy, relatively easy to synthesize in Mexico once the precursors

or even the precursors to the precursors have made their way through the very normal industrial supply chain.

I was talking to a banking official in Central America who said these organizations know exactly what they're doing.

They'll order maybe three or four percent more supply to legitimate industrial sites and then siphon off those supplies to kind of to create what to develop what they need.

They know what they're doing.

And I think that that is that's one of the great challenges.

You know, what does work is going after them like enterprises.

The kingpin strategy is criticized as kind of showy.

And you remember all those years where the number two and number three of Al Qaeda kept on getting killed and replaced the week later?

That's right.

And today I saw the number two of the Nubat Hanyanasyan was killed today.

And I thought, yeah, OK, here we go.

But the reality is that when strategies like going after...

I'm not kidding.

Their HR departments, the recruiters, that works.

Going after their money works better than anything else.

So complicating the business side of the business where we have some skill and not just us, like other regulators, other governments have skills at doing that kind of work.

That does work.

It's boring.

It's not as exciting as putting a, you know, launching a rocket and flying