The Trump administration’s deadly military strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats have not reduced the amount of cocaine entering the United States, but they’re prompting criminal organizations to develop new strategies and tactics and undermining traditional investigative methods, according to a previously unreported assessment by the Drug Enforcement Administration, a closed-door congressional briefing and interviews with current and former U.S. and foreign officials.
Operation Southern Spear has not slowed cocaine from entering U.S.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth walks with Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the senior officer overseeing Operation Southern Spear, before they host the inaugural Americas Counter Cartel Conference in Doral, Florida, in March. (Maria Alejandra Cardona/Reuters)
