Posted on 02/18/2025 9:03:43 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
The CIA under President Donald Trump has been covertly flying MQ-9 Reaper drones over Mexico to spy on drug cartels, current and former officials familiar with the matter told CNN, part of Trump’s dramatic reorientation of national security assets to the US southern border.
The missions, which have not been previously reported, come as the Trump administration moves to treat transnational drug cartels as terrorist organizations — a designation it has yet to officially make.
The MQ-9 drones used for the missions are not currently armed. But they can be equipped with payloads to carry out precision strikes. The US regularly uses them to target suspected terrorists in Syria, Iraq, and Somalia.
Some current and former officials say designating cartels as terrorist groups could potentially lay the groundwork for direct US strikes against the cartels and their drug labs in Mexico.
The CIA has flown surveillance drones to hunt cartels inside Mexico before, according to a former and a current US official, under at least one small program that partnered with Mexican authorities.
But the more recent flights were communicated to Congress by the Trump administration using a particular notification reserved for new or updated covert programs that the CIA intends either to conceal or deny, a source familiar with the matter said — suggesting that the flights represent a distinct escalation. The notifications made no mention of Mexican partners, the source said.
The CIA declined to comment specifically about the drone missions. But a spokesperson said that broadly “countering drug cartels in Mexico and regionally is a priority for CIA as a part of the Trump Administration’s broader efforts to end the grave threat from narco-trafficking. Director [John] Ratcliffe is determined to put CIA’s unique expertise to work against this multifaceted challenge.”
(Excerpt) Read more at usanewsindependent.com ...
"current and former officials familiar with the matter" -- we still have moles in the administration.
The missions USED TO BE "covert."
A-10’s would be better.
So much for “covert”
Wow. The CIA is actually doing things now to HELP America.
less than a month in, and Trump’s influence is already changing DC bureaucratic culture.
Trying to find out if they are being staffed by their business partners.
Yep, I’ve been saying we need 24x7 A-10 patrols on the Mexican side of border for a long while. Let loose the occasional “BBBbbbrrrrapppppp” in the Sonoran Desert just to get the message across, too.
Well, it used to be covert. Now, thanks to CNN, it isn’t. That seems to be aiding and abetting an enemy of the United States.
Could have been doing it years ago, if not for Biden.
“So much for “covert””
Good. CIA is incapable of anything other than evil.
I guess they aren’t covert anymore. The ahos in the “media” get the leak and it’s immediately spread all over the world to America’s enemies by the treasonous “media” scumbags.
Breaking Exclusive:The United States is flying top secret U2 missions over the Soviet Union/CNN in 1960 probably
So much for “covert”
~~~
Right?
Not that Mexico didn’t know. Nor the cartels.
Still, how is it helpful to publish this?
If it was the CIA of 50 years ago, some people at CNN might be getting some interesting visits from some curious people
I wonder if these three pixies work for the cartels.
Perhaps the ‘leak’ was intentional to put fear and doubt in the heats of the wicked.
Loose lips sink ships. Stop it, CNN.
There is nothing going on in Mexico we don’t know about.
The cartels already assume they are under surveillance.
This has no need to be covert.
Do we trust them to be any less compromised on the mission than the Mexican military is?
Has the DNC filed to have this stopped yet?
Who is telling CNN?
That’s a switch. They used to fly crewed planes down there to deliver weapons and pick up cocaine.
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