President Donald Trump’s administration is sending multiple F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico in operations against drug cartels – another major escalation of force in the region that is concerning legal experts and stoking international tensions.
A source familiar with the plans confirmed the deployment of 10 F-35s to Military.com. Reuters first reported the F-35s would be used in operations against designated narco-terrorist organizations operating in the southern Caribbean, and they’re scheduled to arrive in the area by late next week.
The escalation and planned use of the highly advanced and costly stealth aircraft come after the Pentagon sent out a public warning Thursday evening to Venezuela for its military aircraft flying near a Navy vessel, an act they labeled as a “highly provocative move” that interfered with the newly stepped-up U.S. operations.
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The planned deployment of the F-35s also comes days after the Trump administration touted an airstrike on a small boat in the southern Caribbean Sea, killing all 11 people on board. The administration alleged they were members of the Tren de Aragua international gang and were transporting drugs, without providing evidence, which has raised concerns from legal experts about the unprecedented use of military force on civilians outside of a war zone.
In the early hours of taking office in January, Trump signed an executive order designating certain drug cartels as terrorist organizations. From the Oval Office on Friday, Trump, when asked by a reporter whether it will be a regular action, said “it depends on the individual instance.”
“You know, we don’t want drugs coming in from Venezuela or anybody else or anyplace else, and we’ll be tough on that,” he added.
Mark Nevitt, an associate professor at Emory University School of Law and former Navy judge advocate general, writing in the Just Security policy journal on Friday, raised concerns about the administration’s actions and wrote that “applying a new label to an old problem does not transform the problem itself – nor does it grant the U.S. president or the U.S. military expanded legal authority to kill civilians.”
Presently, there is no congressional authorization that would allow for military action against drug cartels. Nevitt said the administration’s actions could open up a new series of “forever wars” – referring to the U.S. military’s decades-long involvement with terrorist organizations in the Middle East.
“Never before has drug trafficking been treated as terrorism, and there is a danger that, with this rhetorical move, the Trump administration is attempting to open a new ‘forever war’ against an amorphous set of actors who are not in reality engaged in hostilities against the United States,” Nevitt wrote.
The decision to send F-35s is also puzzling to some defense experts. Dan Grazier, the senior fellow and director of the National Security Reform Program at the Stimson Center, told Military.com in an interview Friday that selecting the stealth strike fighter likely was less about strategy and all about messaging.
“I’m willing to bet that this is more about strategic signaling than it is about actual military effectiveness,” Grazier said. “From a messaging standpoint, we’re committing 10 of our highest-profile, most advanced aircraft for this role.”
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