With 'drug boat' strikes, Trump leans into war on terror tactic against cartels
toggle caption Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP via Getty Images
At a recent hearing on Capitol Hill, FBI Director Kash Patel celebrated the Trump administration's labeling of drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and told lawmakers the United States should go after narcotraffickers like it did al-Qaida in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
"We must treat them like the al-Qaidas of the world because that's how they're operating," Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Targeting cartels with law enforcement alone has failed to destroy them, he said, adding that the U.S. needs to bring other tools to bear.
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"In order to eliminate them, and that's the key —eliminate the drug trade and eliminate the pouring into the country of narcotics — we have to use authorities at the Department of War and the intelligence community to go after the threat like we did terrorists when we were manhunting them," Patel said.
The administration has provided few details on the scope of its anti-cartel campaign, but it has adopted — at least in part — the blueprint
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