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President Donald Trump has formally determined that the United States is now engaged in an “armed conflict” with international drug cartels, a sweeping and legally fraught move that expands military operations against narcotics traffickers, according to a confidential memo sent to Congress and obtained by ABC News.
The classified notice, distributed to several congressional committees and first reported by The New York Times, follows a series of deadly U.S. military strikes last month against suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean — including two that officials say originated in Venezuela.
The memo states that Trump has “determined” drug cartels engaged in trafficking narcotics into the United States are “nonstate armed groups” whose actions “constitute an armed attack against the United States.” It asserts that “the United States is in a noninternational armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations.”
“Based upon the cumulative effects of these hostile acts against the citizens and interests of the United States,” the notice reads, “the president determined that the United States is in a noninternational armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations.”
The new classification effectively grants the president war powers to authorize continued military strikes against drug-smuggling operations — an unprecedented escalation that shifts anti-narcotics efforts from law enforcement to military jurisdiction.
‘Blow them up’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month defended the administration’s actions when asked about their legal basis.
“Interdiction doesn’t work,” Rubio said. “What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them.”
Independent legal experts, however, questioned whether the move complies with U.S. or international law. Traditionally, narcotics trafficking has been treated as a criminal matter handled by the Justice Department and law enforcement agencies, not as an act of war.
One congressional official familiar with the notice told ABC News that lawmakers view the determination as “the administration essentially waging a secret war against secret enemies, without the consent of Congress.”
The memo also cites a Sept. 15 incident in which U.S. forces struck a vessel off Venezuela’s coast, killing three suspected smugglers. U.S. intelligence officials assessed the boat as being affiliated with a designated terrorist organization and “engaged in trafficking illicit drugs, which could ultimately be used to kill Americans,” according to the document.
While the memo does not name specific groups, Trump has previously identified the South American gang Tren de Aragua as a target of recent U.S. military actions.
Escalation in Venezuela tensions
The administration’s move adds new strain to already tense relations with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom the U.S. accuses of facilitating narcotics trafficking. Maduro has denied those accusations. The Trump administration has placed a $50 million bounty on his capture.
“The vessel was assessed by the U.S. intelligence community to be affiliated with a designated terrorist organization,” the memo states, adding that U.S. forces “remain postured to continue carrying out military operations as necessary.”
Democrats on Capitol Hill said they were blindsided by the notice, which they argue circumvents Congress’s authority under the War Powers Resolution.
Legal experts also noted that the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation itself does not authorize the use of deadly force — it is primarily a tool for imposing financial sanctions and criminal penalties on supporters.
“This is a legally murky expansion of executive power,” said one former national security official. “It treats a criminal issue as a war, which carries enormous constitutional implications.”
The rare use of military force in anti-narcotics operations marks one of the most dramatic national security shifts of Trump’s second term, redefining how the United States prosecutes its decades-long “war on drugs.”
