COMBAT ORDER ISSUED: PRESIDENT TRUMP SIGNS DIRECTIVE ORDERING PENTAGON TO USE MILITARY FORCE AGAINST FOREIGN DRUG CARTELS — “THE DRUG KINGPINS WILL NEVER SLEEP SOUNDLY AGAIN”
Medeea Greere, AMG News, August 8, 2025
(https://tinyurl.com/39d4w2p3)
President Donald J. Trump has issued a Combat Order authorizing the Pentagon to unleash U.S. Navy battle groups, Special Forces strike teams, cyber warfare units, and covert operatives against foreign drug cartels in Mexico, Venezuela, and beyond. No diplomacy. No mercy. Total destruction.
THE DIRECTIVE THAT DECLARES WAR
In a move that will be studied in military academies for decades, President Donald J. Trump has signed a classified directive authorizing the Pentagon to use full-spectrum U.S. military power against foreign drug cartels. The New York Times confirms the order, describing it as “a radical break from decades of diplomatic caution” — a break that Trump calls long overdue.
For too long, Mexico and Venezuela have looked the other way as drug syndicates evolved from regional gangs into multinational terror empires, controlling smuggling routes, assassinating officials, and pouring lethal substances into America. Trump’s patience has expired.
“The drug cartels are waging war on America, and it’s now time to wage war on the cartels.”
This is not a political promise. This is operational war language from a sitting Commander-in-Chief. The directive authorizes unilateral action, with or without cooperation from the governments where the cartels operate.
The text of the directive is unambiguous:
“It will be the policy of the United States to take down the cartels and show no mercy.”
Cartels will be designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), giving the U.S. military the same legal authority to hunt them as it has to hunt ISIS or Al-Qaeda.
Engagement rules will be rewritten to allow pre-emptive strikes on cartel assets — from drug labs to shipping fleets — without the delays of diplomatic clearance.
This means the cartels will face continuous pressure: their leaders hunted, their safehouses raided, their money trails burned.
LOCKING DOWN THE SEAS: A FULL NAVAL EMBARGO
One of the most aggressive elements of the plan is the deployment of the U.S. Navy to impose a total naval embargo on cartel shipping lanes.
Carrier strike groups and guided-missile destroyers will patrol the Western Hemisphere, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific approaches.
Any vessel suspected of carrying narcotics will be intercepted, boarded, and seized — with force if necessary.
Cartel maritime logistics — from fishing boats to container ships — will be dismantled vessel by vessel.
Trump’s intention is clear: the oceans will no longer be highways for the cartel’s poison.
THE SPECIAL FORCES OFFENSIVE
The directive turns America’s most elite warriors into cartel hunters:
- Navy SEALs and Delta Force will conduct night raids on high-value targets deep inside cartel-controlled territory.
- Green Berets will train and lead anti-cartel units in friendly nations, bringing U.S. tactics to the frontlines.
- Cyber warfare teams will cripple communications, hack bank accounts, and erase encrypted networks used by cartel leadership.
Trump has given the Pentagon the authority to use covert action — missions that will never be officially acknowledged but will leave cartel leadership decimated and infrastructure burning.
CUTTING OFF THE MONEY FLOW
The war is not just physical — it is financial. Trump’s directive includes orders to:
- Freeze cartel assets in global banks.
- Expel cartel-linked entities from the SWIFT international payment system.
- Seize real estate, vehicles, and businesses tied to cartel laundering operations.=
- Cartels are corporations of death — and like corporations, they collapse when the cash stops flowing.
MESSAGE TO MEXICO AND VENEZUELA
Trump has made it clear: cooperation is optional — exposure is guaranteed.
“Either we will get the full cooperation of other governments to stop this menace, or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign.”
This is not empty rhetoric. U.S. intelligence has years of surveillance data on corrupt officials, compromised police, and politicians whose careers are funded by drug money. If cooperation doesn’t come, Trump will weaponize that intelligence in public.
LEGISLATING THE DEATH PENALTY FOR TRAFFICKERS
Trump is pushing Congress for a national death penalty mandate for drug smugglers and human traffickers:
- No lengthy appeals.
- No sanctuary in prisons where cartel leaders continue to run operations.
- Execution for those whose trade is measured in American lives lost.
“The drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again.”
WHY THIS WAR IS DIFFERENT
Past administrations fought the “War on Drugs” like a police operation. Trump’s war is a military campaign with a commander’s intent: destroy the enemy’s capability to operate anywhere, anytime.
Unilateral strikes when cooperation fails.
Integrated operations between Navy, Air Force, Special Operations Command, and intelligence agencies.
Simultaneous attacks on land, sea, cyberspace, and financial systems.
DAY ONE OF THE OFFENSIVE
The directive is active. U.S. Navy vessels have already been re-tasked to interdiction patrols.
Special Forces units are on alert status, with target lists provided by the CIA and DEA.
Cyber Command is conducting real-time mapping of cartel networks, preparing to pull the plug on their communications without warning.
This is not posturing — this is movement. The first strikes could be hours away.
FINAL VERDICT:
Under President Donald J. Trump, the United States is shifting from defense to offense in the fight against foreign drug cartels. This is total war — military, financial, and psychological — aimed at erasing the cartels from the map. The era of appeasement is over.
The era of relentless pursuit and decisive destruction has begun.