Dempsey: Latin America Ties Key to War on Terror

The U.S. military's top general says he worries that smuggling networks used to move illegal drugs into the U.S. from Central America could one day be a path for a terrorist's bomb.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey made that point repeatedly this week on his first trip to Latin America as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Dempsey is not advocating a surge of U.S. military activity in Latin America, although the Obama administration has identified the region as increasingly important to U.S. national security.

Dempsey said it would be in U.S. interests to help Colombia and other nations in Central and South America break up the drug-smuggling networks before they can be used as an avenue to move terrorist weapons or fighters across the southern U.S. border.