But Obama, in an interview with CBS television, said his administration would wait to see the impact of stepped up US law enforcement efforts before deploying national guard troops to the border.

"I don't think that it is what would be called an existential threat. But it's a serious threat to those border communities and it has gotten out of hand," he said.

Echoing comments in Mexico last week by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Obama called the drug crisis in the south a "two-way street" fueled by US demand for drugs and availability of weapons.

"We've got to reduce demand for drugs. We've got to do our part in reducing the flow of cash and guns south," he said.

Administration officials announced plans last week to send 360 more federal agents and officers to the border area to target the movement of drugs and guns and to beef up security and intelligence along the border.

Obama said the administration was considering calls for national guard troops in the border areas.

"But we want to first see whether some of the steps that we've taken can help quell some of the violence," he said. "And we want to make sure that we are consulting as effectively as we can with the Mexican government in moving this strategy forward."

Clinton delivered that message in Mexico City last week, vowing to stand with the government of President Felipe Calderon in the fight against powerful drug cartels.

She also pledged to provide Mexico with 80 million dollars to buy Blackhawk helicopters to pursue the drug cartels.

An estimated 6,300 have been killed in drug related violence in Mexico since 2008 in an intensifying war as Mexican troops go after drug cartels, and the gangs vie among themselves for lucrative smuggling routes into the United States.

Obama said the drug cartels were "undermining and corrupting huge segments of Mexico society," but he praised Calderon for taking on the drug cartels "in the same way that Elliot Ness took on Al Capone back during prohibition."

"Oftentimes that causes even more violence and we're seeing that flare up," Obama added.

In a separate interview, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Fox television that Calderon had acted with "enormous courage" in sending in Mexican troops to try to control the situation.

"I think that the chances of the Mexican government losing control of some part of their country or becoming a failed state are very low," he said.

earlier related report
US troops to Mexico border 'premature': senator
A senior US senator cautioned Monday against deployments of national guard troops to the US border with Mexico, saying such a move would be "premature and possibly counter-productive."

In remarks prepared for a special hearing in the Texas border city of El Paso, Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also warned against the alarmist tone of a US debate over drug violence in Mexico.

"The idea of dispatching the national guard to the border is premature and possibly counterproductive," he said.

His remarks echoed those of senior administration officials who in recent days have sought to play down fears that Mexico could become a failed state if it loses its war against powerful drug cartels.

"Mexico is a functioning democracy, with a vibrant and open economy and stable institutions and civil society," he said.

"We have to be very careful about that kind of rhetoric -- not just because it is simply untrue, but because it makes cooperation more difficult," he said.

El Paso is across the border from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's most violent city with 1,650 drug-related killings last year.

Kerry said he was holding the hearing in El Paso to demonstrate US commitment to "working with Mexican authorities to end the violence that is endangering our valued neighbor to the south."

He said the United States must assume responsibility for reducing demand for drugs and shutting down the flow of weapons into Mexico, the source of 90 percent of the weapons seized from the cartels.

Senator John McCain, a Republican from the border state of Arizona, said Sunday that national guard troops needed to be sent to the border, as the governors of Texas and Arizona have requested.

President Barack Obama said Sunday he is considering the governors' request, but first wants to see the effect of a beefed-up law enforcement presence in the border area.

But he acknowledged in an interview with CBS television that drug violence in Mexico has "gotten out of hand" and poses a serious threat to communities along the US-Mexico border.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton assured Mexico's President Felipe Calderon in a visit to Mexico City last week that Washington would stand by his government in its fight against the cartels.

She also pledged to provide Mexico with 80 million dollars to buy Blackhawk helicopters to pursue the drug cartels.

An estimated 6,300 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since the start of 2008.

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