On March 15, President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act in opposition to drug traffickers — a transfer that has been met with astonishment, notably because the act originated in 1798 and has not often been used since — past when the US has been at struggle.
Though discussions surrounding the act are specializing in its impact on immigration, what is usually getting misplaced in debates is the White Home’s argument that drug trafficking constitutes a type of irregular warfare. Equally, the administration has stirred up controversy by classifying drug traffickers as terrorists.
Can or not it’s the case that drug traffickers are terrorists finishing up a type of irregular warfare — and if that’s the case, how might the U.S. navy tackle this at a strategic degree?
Can medication be weapons of struggle?
The phrase “terrorism” has taken on new that means in recent times. Though arguments may be made as to what signifies a terrorist exercise, the idea of terrorism is most frequently related to those that select to do hurt in opposition to civilians via acts of utmost violence or by mass casualty.
The assaults on the united statesCole, the World Commerce Middle and Benghazi normally come to thoughts when referring to acts of terrorism. But it’s the refined terrorist assaults that usually go unnoticed.
The correlation between medication and terrorist organizations shouldn’t be new. In truth, most terrorist organizations rely closely on prison conduct to assist their actions, such because the illicit drug commerce, human trafficking, intercourse trafficking and cash laundering. Whereas it’s true that unlawful medication finance terrorist and prison teams, the state of affairs as we speak has modified.
It has change into well-known that the first killer of U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 45 is fentanyl. In 2019 it was reported that fentanyl dying charges had risen by over 1,000% inside simply six years.
Not like up to now, when the aim of illicit drug commerce was to extend earnings to fund terrorist assaults, fentanyl not solely will increase prison earnings however is a method of destruction — harming a big portion of the U.S. inhabitants and inflicting over 100,000 deaths per 12 months. Mexican cartels have been recognized as being liable for the inflow of fentanyl into the U.S., which led Trump to designate them as terrorist organizations.
Can medication like fentanyl precisely be described as weapons of struggle? Though it could appear stunning, historical past reveals us the reply is usually sure.
Organized crime teams have usually intentionally flooded medication into the U.S. with the aim of inflicting mass casualties on civilians. In 2005, Afghan drug lord Haji Baz Mohammed was extradited to the U.S. and convicted after having orchestrated makes an attempt to make use of heroin as a type of “jihad,” stating that he and his colleagues had been “taking the Individuals’ cash and the heroin was killing them,” in response to courtroom paperwork.
State actors and corruption
Political entities wishing to undermine the US usually have deep ties to the drug commerce and use it to trigger hurt. One instance is the conviction and sentencing of Juan Orlando Hernandez, who served as president of Honduras from 2014 to 2022, and was ultimately sentenced to 45 years in jail in June 2024 for what U.S. prosecutors described as “state-sponsored drug trafficking.”
The case made historical past as Hernandez turned the primary former president sentenced within the U.S. for narcotics trafficking. Based on the Justice Division, Hernandez’s co-conspirators benefited not solely from political safety however military-style weaponry, together with AK-47s, AR-15s and grenade launchers.
Mexico presents a singular problem when it comes to its geographic proximity to the U.S. and its function as a significant worldwide buying and selling associate. As a result of deep corruption, it has proved problematic up to now for U.S. legislation enforcement to place a cease to cartel actions affecting Americans.
Lately, the Mexican authorities extradited 29 drug lords to the U.S., together with Rafael Caro Quintero, a Sinaloa cartel chief liable for the homicide of DEA Particular Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985. Camarena was kidnapped, brutally tortured and killed by the hands of the Sinaloa cartel in one in all many tragedies skilled by the DEA whereas it was working in Mexico for over 40 years.
Quintero evaded justice for many years, an indication of the the difficulties of taking up cartels in addition to the issue corruption has posed in stifling their illicit actions.
To tackle the cartels who’re liable for the deaths of American civilians will take greater than navy or legislation enforcement motion alone.
The necessity for joint options
Whereas turning its consideration to Mexico, the present administration has deployed U.S. navy forces to ascertain management of the border. Nonetheless, such efforts would require mixed expertise, information and the combination of experience past the armed forces.
For the reason that illicit drug commerce is a significant exercise for the Mexican cartels, the mannequin for an answer may be replicated based mostly on the Afghanistan-based partnership between the Protection Division and a foreign-deployed advisory assist crew, or FAST.
This extremely profitable joint effort noticed the U.S. navy work with DEA brokers on the bottom to focus on Taliban heroin traffickers. What introduced success then was choices and the flexibility to focus on narco-terrorists via an array of authorities that might be used on the battlefield.
The identical idea might be used to deal with the threats from Mexico by exploiting DOD property and mixing them with DEA experience. Alongside vetted Mexican authorities, this partnership would yield shared intelligence gathering, coaching and joint operations.
FAST drew its methodologies from U.S. particular operations by merging small unit ways, operational planning and tactical fight casualty care with DEA’s investigative methods, proof processing and dealing with of informants to create an unprecedented method to successfully extinguish threats from prison teams.
In a number of quick years, FAST turned a useful useful resource for the Particular Operations Command to focus on Taliban principals and take away terrorist leaders from the battlefield. It stays a partnership extremely valued by those that served on DEA’s FAST program.
Though the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have since ended, the teachings discovered from this cooperative method nonetheless maintain worth. This technique could also be revisited as a technique of unconventional warfare aimed toward dismantling probably the most nefarious prison organizations.
Neither the U.S. navy nor federal legislation enforcement performing alone are sufficient to cope with the advanced drawback of cartels. Forging a brand new partnership between DOD and DEA utilizing the FAST mannequin might show to be probably the most environment friendly answer.
Zita Ballinger Fletcher beforehand served as editor of Army Historical past Quarterly and Vietnam magazines and because the historian of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. She holds an M.A. with distinction in navy historical past.
