President Trump has declared the United States is now at war with drug cartels deemed by the White House as terrorist groups, giving legal rationale to U.S. military strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea last month, according to a confidential notice the administration sent to Congress this week.
Trump determined the United States “is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations,” according to the notice, which was sent to the national security congressional committees and obtained by The Hill.
“The President directed the Department of War to conduct operations against them pursuant to the law of armed conflict,” the notice adds, referring to Trump’s new preferred name for the Defense Department. “The United States has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defense and defense of others against the ongoing attacks by these designated terrorist organizations.”
The New York Times was the first to report on the notice, which comes after the Pentagon conducted three military strikes on boats Trump has claimed were carrying drugs bound for the United States. The attacks killed all 17 people aboard the vessels — at least two of which originated from Venezuela — with the administration insisting they were lawful despite no public proof that the boats contained drugs.
But Democrats insist that Trump must seek war powers authority from Congress before conducting such operations.
The notice did not name any of the cartels now deemed terrorist organizations to be targeted. The Pentagon also has not provided a list of the designated organizations that are part of this effort, which frustrated some of the lawmakers who were briefed, The Associated Press reported.
Citing a U.S. statute requiring the sitting administration provide reports to Congress about attacks or hostilities involving the U.S. military, the notice again lays out Trump’s earlier claims that it was acting in self-defense in striking the boats, thus “eliminating the threat posed by these designated terrorist organizations.”
It also presents several new assertions, including that the administration has determined that the cartels’ actions constitute an ongoing armed attack against the United States.
“They illegally and directly cause the deaths of tens of thousands of American citizens each year. . . . these groups are now transnational and conduct ongoing attacks throughout the Western Hemisphere as organized cartels,” the notice states. “Therefore, the President determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States.”
The notice also justifies the U.S. military’s most recent publicly disclosed strike on a boat, the Sept. 15 attack on a vessel that killed the three people onboard, who the administration labeled as “unlawful combatants.”
“The vessel was assessed by the U.S. intelligence community to be affiliated with a designated terrorist organization and, at the time, engaged in trafficking illicit drugs, which could ultimately be used to kill Americans,” according to the notice. “This strike resulted in the destruction of the vessel, the illicit narcotics, and the death of approximately 3 unlawful combatants.”
It adds that U.S. forces “remain postured to carry out military operations as necessary to prevent further deaths or injury to American citizens by eliminating the threat posed by these designated terrorist organizations.”
Updated: 3:28 p.m.
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