Hegseth creates new military task force to target Caribbean drug cartels

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced at the Pentagon on Friday that he has established a new counternarcotics Joint Task Force operating under US Southern Command to focus on maritime drug trafficking in the Caribbean. The move will initially concentrate initial operations on international waters off Venezuela.

“At the President’s direction, the Department of War is establishing a new counter-narcotics Joint Task Force in the @SOUTHCOM area of responsibility to crush the cartels, stop the poison, and keep America safe. The message is clear: if you traffic drugs toward our shores, we will stop you cold,” Hegseth wrote on X.

The task force, Hegseth said, will be led by II Marine Expeditionary Force and will synchronize and augment counter-narcotics efforts across SOUTHCOM’s area of responsibility, which covers much of Central and South America and the Caribbean.

The initiative is intended to disrupt the growing number of overdose deaths in the United States, and it formalizes an expanded US military posture in the southern Caribbean that began in late August, when the administration ordered ships, surveillance aircraft and Marines into the region. Warships, P-8 Poseidon surveillance planes and Marine helicopters have been operating in the area. Those forces have been used for increased maritime surveillance and precision interdictions. 

A series of lethal strikes on vessels in international waters near Venezuela have been ordered in recent days against narco terrorists who the Pentagon says were carrying illegal drugs. At least four strikes have taken place since early September, with news reports claiming the strikes have killed about 20 people.

The administration has pointed to existing counter-narcotics authorities and prior legal designations to justify the use of military force at sea. Hegseth earlier told media he had “every authorization needed” for strikes in the Caribbean.

The creation of the task force means the Caribbean operation will now have a permanent, centralized command structure under SOUTHCOM, Pentagon officials said, even as oversight questions persist on Capitol Hill and among international partners about the legal rationale, the evidence for targeted strikes and the long-term strategy for countering drug trafficking in the hemisphere.