Trump Admin Hints At Ground Action Against Cartels

The commander of U. S. Southern Command, Gen. Francis Donovan, says the Pentagon is weighing land-based action against drug cartels, a possible widening of a campaign that until now has centered on boats. He told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that he wants every option available, and he listed strikes, arrests, raids on safe houses and even expanded cargo scanning at border crossings. His stated aim is to impose "complete systemic friction" on trafficking groups. The comments arrive a year after American forces started hitting vessels suspected of hauling narcotics through waters around Latin America and the Caribbean, according to Daily Caller.

According to the Journal, which relied on unnamed U. S. officials, the military is flying drones to chart how cartels and other smuggling networks move, with the goal of helping regional governments and their police sharpen their own counter-drug efforts. The newspaper also reported that the Pentagon intends to apply surveillance technology and counterinsurgency methods that commanders such as Donovan used during the War on Terror in the Middle East, as part of a worldwide push against transnational organized crime.

Regional teamwork has grown markedly through the Shield of the Americas coalition. CBS News reported that on Sept. 24, about 50 American troops and federal agents went along with Ecuadorian police on a predawn operation against a cocaine network allegedly linked to Mexican cartels. The Journal described it as the first time U. S. soldiers directly helped on the ground in Ecuador, with drones and signal jammers in use.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Daily Caller’s reporting. Read the full story at Daily Caller →