I admit that I (in a way) root for those guys. If they can move around such quantities of physical illegal stuff then we can be sure we can move around any strings of bits we choose to.
It is a matter of priorities - drug enforcement isn't high up the agenda.
The DEA has a budget of $2.4 billion. The NSA's budget is classified, but most analysts estimate it's at least $6 billion - over double that of the DEA. And that's just one intelligence agency. The total intelligence budget of the USA is $80 billion.
Cartels could easily be dismantled if the will and money was there - it isn't, because we would rather spend that money on other things, such as nation state intelligence and counter-terrorism.
They might be dismantled, but all the incentives of illegal distribution would remain. Demand would remain, prices would climb, and inevitably new cartels would spring up in their place to fill the demand.
The drug trade provides a great way for three letter agencies to transport money, men, and materiel around different parts of the world.
For example, the recently deceased Jon P. Roberts of Cocaine Cowboys infamy (great book, btw) is alleged to have become a CIA asset in his later years, after he was captured and removed from the cocaine importing business.
