Counterterrorism magazine posted my online Threatcon column on President Trump designating drug cartels and transnational gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.
You can read the column via the link below or the text below:
I recently had lunch with a retired Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agent. He spoke of how the influx of dangerous narcotics into the United States is a national security issue. He said drug overdoses kill far more Americans than terrorist attacks.
“The drugs come in from the Mexican cartels and are offered to drug addicts here in Philadelphia and across the country,” the former DEA agent said. “The plant-based drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, are bad enough, but now we see the synthetic, chemically based drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, which are often deadly.”
The former DEA agent said the DEA holds the Mexican Sinaloa and Jalisco drug cartels mostly responsible for the influx of the deadly drugs. He also said that he believes that President Trump designating drug cartels and transnational gangs as foreign terrorist organization is a step in the right direction.
On January 20th, Trump issued the below Executive Order:
DESIGNATING CARTELS AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS AS FOREIGN
TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS AND SPECIALLY DESIGNATED GLOBAL TERRORISTS
By the authority
vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States
of America, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C.
1101 et seq., the International Emergency Economic Powers Act
(IEEPA),50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq. it is hereby ordered:
Section 1.
Purpose. This order creates a process by which certain
international cartels (the Cartels) and other organizations will be designated
as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, consistent with section 219 of the INA (8
U.S.C. 1189), or Specially Designated Global Terrorists, consistent with IEEPA
(50 U.S.C. 1702) and Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001 (Blocking
Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten to
Commit, or Support Terrorism), as amended.
(a)
International cartels constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed
by traditional organized crime, with activities encompassing:
(i)
convergence between themselves and a range of
extra-hemispheric actors, from designated foreign-terror organizations to
antagonistic foreign governments;
(ii)
complex adaptive systems, characteristic of entities engaged in
insurgency and asymmetric warfare; and
(iii)
infiltration into foreign governments across the Western Hemisphere.
The Cartels have
engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere
that has not only destabilized countries with significant importance for our
national interests but also flooded the United States with deadly drugs,
violent criminals, and vicious gangs.
The Cartels
functionally control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape, and
brute force nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border of the United
States. In certain portions of Mexico, they function as
quasi-governmental entities, controlling nearly all aspects of society.
The Cartels’ activities threaten the safety of the American people, the
security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in
the Western Hemisphere. Their activities, proximity to, and incursions
into the physical territory of the United States pose an unacceptable national
security risk to the United States.
(b) Other
transnational organizations, such as Tren de Aragua (TdA) and La Mara
Salvatrucha (MS-13) pose similar threats to the United States. Their
campaigns of violence and terror in the United States and internationally are
extraordinarily violent, vicious, and similarly threaten the stability of the
international order in the Western Hemisphere.
(c) The
Cartels and other transnational organizations, such as TdA and MS-13, operate
both within and outside the United States. They present an unusual and
extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of
the United States. I hereby declare a national emergency, under IEEPA, to
deal with those threats.
Sec. 2.
Policy. It is the policy of the United States to ensure the total
elimination of these organizations’ presence in the United States and their
ability to threaten the territory, safety, and security of the United States
through their extraterritorial command-and-control structures, thereby
protecting the American people and the territorial integrity of the United
States.
Sec. 3.
Implementation. (a) Within 14 days of the date of this order,
the Secretary of State shall take all appropriate action, in consultation with
the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland
Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, to make a recommendation
regarding the designation of any cartel or other organization described in
section 1 of this order as a Foreign Terrorist Organization consistent with 8
U.S.C. 1189 and/or a Specially Designated Global Terrorist consistent with 50
U.S.C. 1702 and Executive Order 13224.
(b) Within 14
days of the date of this order, the Attorney General and the Secretary of
Homeland Security shall take all appropriate action, in consultation with the
Secretary of State, to make operational preparations regarding the
implementation of any decision I make to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, 50
U.S.C. 21 et seq., in relation to the existence of any qualifying
invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States by a
qualifying actor, and to prepare such facilities as necessary to expedite the
removal of those who may be designated under this order.
Sec. 4.
General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be
construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the
authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head
thereof; or
(ii) the
functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to
budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order
shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the
availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
My friend, the
former DEA special agent, also approves of President Trump’s other actions,
such as using American spy aircraft to target Mexican drug cartels.
According to reports
in the press, U.S. Navy P-8s equipped with new and improved radar and a
high-altitude U-2 are spying on the drug traffickers, much like they have been
used to spy on our nation’s adversaries, such as Russia, China, North Korea,
and Iran.
Trump also ended
the “Catch and Release” policy, and deployed thousands of military people to
support the Border Patrol. He also negotiated with Mexico leading our southern
neighbor to deploy 10,000 soldiers to patrol their side of the southern border.
The cartels
have responded by firing on Border Patrol agents in Texas, and the cartels
ordering attacks on US Border agents with kamikaze drones.
It has been
reported that President Trump is also considering of sending U.S. special
operations troops into Mexico to confront the violent drug trafficking
organizations.
When asked by
a reporter about the special operations idea, President Trump replied, “Could
happen. Stranger things have happened.”
Paul Davis’ Threatcon column covers crime, espionage and terrorism.
Note: You can read my other Threatcon columns via the link below:
Paul Davis On Crime: My Counterterrorism Magazine Online 'Threatcon' Columns
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