The agency is considering what kinds of activities it could legally undertake to deal with cartels amid Trump’s plans to clamp down on them
The CIA is reviewing its use of lethal force against drug cartels amid President Trump’s move to make tackling them an intelligence priority.
The agency is considering what kinds of activities it could legally undertake to deal with the groups, but the review does not indicate that Trump has ordered the CIA to take direct action against the cartels, CNN reported.
It is also designed to help understand the potential risks across their range of options, according to a US official and three people briefed on the matter. The move suggests that the Trump administration is seriously considering the possibility of using force against cartels.
It also highlights some US officials’ concerns that traditional counterterrorism tools against cartels can carry a higher risk of collateral damage to American citizens than similar operations in the Middle East that are much further from US soil.
Agency lawyers are also examining the CIA’s and its officers’ liability if an American is accidentally killed in any operation, according to someone briefed.
The US official said agency officials are “cautious” about using “assets traditionally going after what were seen as military targets now being employed against cartel targets.”
Earlier this year the Trump administration designated a number of cartels as foreign terrorist organisations.
Some current former US officials feel this is designed to build a predicate for lethal action, and the CIA is already flying surveillance drones capable of being armed over Mexico.
It is unclear whether the effort was ordered by the White House or CIA Director John Ratcliffe, or whether it was undertaken as a planning measure by agency staff in response the Trump administration’s plans.
A former CIA official told CNN: “Just because something is legal under [the law of armed conflict] doesn’t mean it’s something you should do.”
The CIA can use lethal force if they are properly authorised by the president and they abide by US laws and regulations that govern armed conflict.
But targeting people in a place where there are many US-born citizens and green card holders poses a risk to the CIA as they could sue the US government if they are harmed.
It also risks creating political problems for the partner nation, meaning their government could then refuse to allow the agency to operate there going forward.
Cartels could also retaliate and some of them have a presence in the US.
In a recent study for the Atlantic Council, former Defense Department official Doug Livermore said: “Mexican cartels are not merely criminal organisations; they operate as paramilitary entities with deep financial resources, global supply chains, and sophisticated logistical networks that extend into the United States.
“Cartels are highly likely to retaliate” and “possess a substantial capacity for terrorism that, when coupled with their established presence within the United States, could escalate conflict”, it continued.
The US intelligence community’s annual threat assessment, published in March, led with drug cartel threats for apparently the first time in the report’s nearly 20-year history.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.