If you’re a cop, chief, mayor or governor near the U.S./Mexico border these days, you probably have a message for the new administration that goes something like this: “Dear Mr. President and whomever else it may concern: We need help. Lots of it. Send money and personnel ASAP.” But there are no such anguished cries from well-funded federal law enforcement agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration. They say it plain and simple – they don’t want or need any additional resources to “get-r-done.”

“We have the authority now, we just need to make sure that the DEA and other agencies use the tools that are available,” said Michele M. Leonhart, the acting DEA administrator, at an agency roundtable with reporters recently. The key, according to the DEA administrator, will be widespread collaboration between federal agencies, state and local law-enforcement authorities, and Mexican officials.

“A seizure at the border is not going to break the backs of the cartels; what breaks the backs of the cartels are the partnerships with the U.S. and Mexican counterparts . . . going after cartels, and with our inter-agency coordination and these multi-jurisdictional cases done all around the country . . . .”

The DEA is expanding its presence and operations by working with Mexico and Central American countries to intercept drugs before they reach Mexico, from where they enter the U.S.,  Leonhart said. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, a man that knows a thing or two about border issues, couldn’t disagree more. “The unfortunate reality is our southwest border remains unsafe due to the drug cartels, and now more than ever, we must focus first and foremost on securing our borders,” McCain told reporters at a recent press conference.

Committee Chairman Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., said at the hearing that he is considering legislation to close a “gun-show loophole” that allows drug cartels and others to circumvent background checks at gun stores. Recent anxiety about ramped up gun control under the Obama administration makes that proposition unrealistic at best. Derek Maltz, the special agent in charge of the DEA’s special operations division, said their successful interdiction efforts at the border don’t require too much tinkering.

“We have looked at the mistakes that have been made, and we have built up on these capabilities to the point where it is really at unprecedented levels,” Maltz said. In stark contrast to the residents and local law enforcement folks that have described the situation on the border as a security crisis, federal officials seem to dismiss notions of spillover into the U.S. as “hype.” Spill-over violence into the United States is rare, and the DEA is not predicting a significant spike, according to Anthony P. Placido, the DEA’s chief of intelligence.

The government has defined spillover violence as targeting of U.S. officials and civilians, Placido told the publication Congressional Quarterly. Alan Bersin, who was appointed the Homeland Security Department’s new “border czar,” agrees. “The situation, actually, here, in places like El Paso [and] San Diego . . . we haven’t seen the spill-over violence,” said Bersin, whose formal title is assistant secretary for international affairs and special representative for border affairs.

“The efforts that are being made . . . are intended to support local and state law enforcement working with federal law enforcement to see to it that situation never arises.”

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