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Editor’s Letter
In June 2024, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel identified more than 400 individuals from Central Asia who had crossed illegally into the United States via an ISIS-affiliated human trafficking network. As I write this, the whereabouts of at least 50 of these individuals are still unknown. Earlier that same month, eight men from Tajikistan were arrested in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles — DHS says they were part of a completely different ISIS-affiliated network.
In April, a 48-year-old Afghan man whose name was on the terrorist watch list was found in San Antonio, Texas, having spent more than a year inside the U.S. And these incidents are not rare. In 2023, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) encountered a total of 172 individuals on the watchlist who were attempting to cross the border (169 from Mexico and 3 from Canada). Year-to-date data indicates this number is likely to increase in 2024, and those are only the individuals we know about — countless others manage to slip through the cracks.
Border security has become a highly politicized and controversial topic, but it shouldn’t be. Every developed nation has established policies for legal immigration and citizenship, and the reasons behind these policies should be just as obvious as the reasons you lock your own front door. Aside from the national security concerns of allowing terrorist and criminal organizations to gain a foothold, an unsecure border also facilitates sex trafficking and smuggling of drugs such as fentanyl, which killed an estimated 82,000 Americans in 2022.
To develop a better understanding of this problem, we interviewed someone who experiences its consequences on a daily basis: Sheriff Mark Lamb of Pinal County, Arizona. Lamb has been outspoken about the severity of the border crisis, and our ride-along with him let us witness and photograph some of the smuggling routes firsthand.
However, it’s important to remember that outsiders shouldn’t be our only source of concern. Our own citizens are willing to induce violent civil unrest from within, as we’ve seen in cities and college campuses throughout America this year. In this issue, Patrick Diedrich takes a look at the Do-It-Yourself Occupation Guide, a guide that suggests tactics for breaking, entering, and occupying structures in an effort to forcibly reshape society.
Many of our columns relate to equipment and skills that can help you maintain awareness and safety if you find yourself in the path of a violent crowd — a buyer’s guide to optics you can use for observation, an armored “Speed Ball” backpack loadout, methods for treating penetrating chest wounds in the field, and a review of a locking Steelhead Outdoors cabinet that can help secure your valuables when you’re not at home.
Last but not least, our What If scenario in this issue covers a topic that has become a constant in wars and conflicts around the world: weaponized drone attacks. We asked two experts — Army veteran and drone specialist Christopher Rance and Marine Corps veteran and tracking instructor Freddy Osuna — how they would respond during a drone attack on U.S. soil. Both agreed that this flying IED scenario is not a matter of if, but of when. They also noted the relevance to border security, since cartels have been some of the leading innovators (if you’d use that word) behind converting inexpensive consumer drones to carry payloads of drugs or explosives.
Whether the threat comes from outside our borders, inside your hometown, or even from the skies above, we hope the information in this issue will help you become more aware and prepared. Although some of these dangers may sound far-fetched, don’t fall victim to normalcy bias by assuming they won’t affect you in the future simply because they haven’t affected you yet. Stay aware and always have a plan for action.
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Editor's Note: This article has been modified from its original print version for the web.
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