When talking to Evelyn Krache Morris, it becomes clear that she has never shied away from challenges in her work. Her dissertation from Georgetown University focused on a little-known Vietnam War scandal regarding a crop destruction enterprise. Now, she’s tackling another under-publicized subject: the complex topic of the Mexican drug trade and its connection to U.S. relations.

"The Economist recently reported that Republican members of Congress have advocated sending the National Guard to police the border. The potential for images of armed U.S. soldiers confronting migrant children should be an alarming one for the administration."

"...[P]rojecting an image of competence and progress against drug trafficking may be particularly important at the moment, as the Peña Nieto administration struggles to come up with a strategy for how to handle the autodefensas — the armed civilian organizations that are taking on the DTOs without government sanction or control."

"The cartels, along with the violence and corruption they perpetrate, are threats to both Mexico and the United States. The problem is a complicated one and taps areas of profound policy disagreement. The way to make progress in combating the DTOs is to ignore issues like gun control and illegal immigration and follow the money. Stanching the cartels' profits will do more to end the bloodshed than any new fence or law."

"Obama may be comfortable with Brennan's philosophy of targeted assassinations, and he may be equally confident in the proposed new CIA chief's ability to control the initiatives of underlings. However, these are flimsy foundations on which to base policy decisions, particularly ones concerning a weapon as controversial as drones. Cutting Congress and the public out of the process of determining how, when, and where these weapons should be used is counterproductive and shortsighted."