President Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to prepare options for the possible use of U.S. military force against drug cartels designated as terrorist organizations, two U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News on Friday.
One official said that any possible use of U.S. military assets is not imminent.
It remains unclear exactly what the authorization will allow and what military operations would be considered as potential options that the U.S. military has been authorized to prepare. There are sure to be questions about the legality of such operations.
The New York Times was first to report that Trump had signed a directive ordering the Pentagon to prepare military options against the cartels.
The Pentagon referred all questions to the White House.
President Donald Trump speaks, as he makes an announcement on the economy, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, Aug. 7, 2025.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Asked for comment, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told ABC News that “President Trump’s top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.”
In February, the Trump administration designated Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel, MS-13 and other drug cartels as global terrorist organizations following an executive order signed by Trump in January.
Appearing on EWTN on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that designation allows the administration to use various means against the cartels which he described as being armed like terrorist or armies that control territory.
“I don’t know if it’s changed their behavior yet, but their behavior is going to have to change one way or another,” Rubio said in an interview when asked if the terrorist designation had changed the cartels’ behavior. “But it allows us to now target what they’re operating and to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever … to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it.”
“We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug dealing organizations,” Rubio continued. “Drug dealing is the kind of terrorism they’re doing.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
