Janet Napolitano said officials were still considering whether to

deploy the National Guard to the border. She plans to meet with the

governor of Texas to discuss the matter.

Deputy Attorney General David Ogden pledged "to destroy these

criminal organizations" through a united effort on both sides of

the border.

Many of the moves being announced are a continuation or

expansion of programs that already existed under the Bush

administration.

Violent turf battles among the cartels have wracked Mexico in

recent years, and led to a spate of kidnappings and home invasions

in some U.S. cities.

Authorities said they will increase the number of immigrations

and customs agents, drug agents and anti-gun trafficking agents

operating along the border.

Prosecutors say they will make a greater effort to go after

those smuggling guns and drug profits from the U.S. into Mexico.

Officials said President Barack Obama is particularly concerned

about killings in Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana, and wants to prevent

such violence from spilling over into the United States.

Among the moves the government is making:

--Doubling the border enforcement security teams that combine

local, state, and federal officers.

--Adding 16 new Drug Enforcement Administration positions in the

southwest region. DEA currently has more than 1,000 agents working

in the southwest border region.

--Sending 100 more people form the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,

Firearms, and Explosives to the border in the next 45 days. A

recent bill passed by Congress already provided money for the ATF

to hire 37 new agents and support staff in the region to fight gun

trafficking.

The administration is also highlighting $700 million that

Congress has already approved to support Mexico's efforts to fight

the cartels.

Yet the plan so far falls short of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's

request last month that 1,000 troops be sent to bolster border

security in his state.

During a visit to El Paso last month, Perry said he had asked

Napolitano for aviation assets and "1,000 more troops that we can

commit to different parts of the border."

Asked then it he wanted the military, Perry said, "I really

don't care. As long as they are boots on the ground that are

properly trained to deal with the border region, I don't care

whether they are military troops, or National Guard troops or

whether they are customs agents."

Last week, a Perry spokeswoman said that federal border

protection had been underfunded for some time and that the 1,000

extra troops Perry requested would fill in gaps that state and

local agencies have been covering.