President Donald Trump strongly hinted that the United States will engage in violent action against the most powerful drug cartels in Mexico. In his inaugural address, Trump pledged he would be “designating the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.” Trump will sign an executive order to that effect later Monday.
A foreign terrorist designation is not the key point in and of itself here. Instead, a strong indication that Trump is preparing to issue a highly classified covert action finding that would authorize the CIA to engage in violent action against the cartels. While an FTO designation would open a vast number of Mexican businesses and politicians to U.S. criminal proceedings if they continued to deal with the cartels, it would also provide supporting government action for a covert action finding, which enables the CIA to use force against the cartels. Any CIA covert action would entail the use of force, sabotage, and manipulation to weaken and undermine the cartels in relation to their U.S. operations. Put simply, it would mean U.S. intelligence officers killing or otherwise attacking cartel officers and assets.
