Gov. John Carney recently met with leadership from the Delaware National Guard Counter Drug Unit.
The actively deployed unit members provide resources to law enforcement agencies across the state of Delaware and to assist in the war on drugs. That could include investigative assistance, training and transportation.
The agency is funded by the federal Department of Defense, but Delaware’s program is overseen by Governor Carney in partnership with New Jersey and Maryland.
Carney visited the Delaware unit ahead of a gubernatorial summit over the weekend.
“This gives me something else to talk to Governor Murphy and Governor Hogan about—just our joint efforts here—and make sure we’re all aligned,” said Carney.
Carney was shown a weapons training simulator and a helicopter the unit shares with its New Jersey counterpart.
President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency and is looking to reallocate Department of Defense funding to build a wall along the US Mexico border. But National Guard Lt. Colonel Michael Murphy says the counter drug unit will not be affected.
“The guidance that we have received from the National Guard Bureau is that the funding for the National Guard Counter Drug Program is a line item number within the congressional budget. So that funding should not be reallocated,” said Murphy.
Murphy says his unit’s top concern is keeping fentanyl out of the state.
He says most of it is made synthetically in China then shipped to Mexico and funneled into the US across the southern border.