The U.S. is reportedly planning to send troops and intelligence officers into Mexico to target drug cartels, former and current U.S. officials told NBC News Monday.
Training has reportedly already begun for such a mission, two current U.S. officials told NBC News, though no deployment to Mexico is imminent. The plan would deploy both U.S. military and CIA personnel on the ground in Mexico and include drone strikes on cartel targets, according to the report. If put into action, it would be a significant escalation in President Donald Trump’s ongoing campaign against Latin American drug cartels.
“The Trump administration is committed to utilizing an all-of-government approach to address the threats cartels pose to American citizens,” a senior administration official told NBC in response to the news.
If the mission is approved, the administration reportedly plans to keep the operation secret and not publicize any strikes, unlike the video-documented attacks on cartel boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that Trump has highlighted in the past, according to the report.
The plan calls for drone strikes against drug labs in Mexico as well as top cartel leaders, the officials told NBC News, and is not intended to undermine the Mexican government.
The U.S. troops will reportedly mostly be Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) members, who operate under the authority of the intelligence community, two current officials told NBC News. Pat administrations have deployed the CIA to aid in missions against cartels from the Mexican government, but have never gotten involved directly as the reported plan prescribes.
The CIA and the White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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