-Drone flights are searching for fentanyl labs
-‘Covert’ drone program has not been previously disclosed, NYT reports
-CIA has not been authorized to use drones to take lethal action: NYT
To combat drug cartels, the CIA is ramping up secret drone flights over Mexico, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
This ‘covert’ drone program began under the Biden administration and has not previously been disclosed, U.S. officials told the newspaper newspaper.
Now, President Trump and his CIA director John Ratliff, have increased the use of drones, the New York Times wrote. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that these recent flights were communicated to Congress using a notification reserved for new or updated covert programs the CIA intends to conceal or deny.
While the drones, MQ-9 Reapers, are not currently armed, they can carry payloads for precision strikes. It’s a move that the United States has used to target suspected terrorists in other countries.
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Officials said in the New York Times that they do not envision the drones conducting airstrikes on Mexico and the CIA has not authorized their use for lethal action.
CIA officers are passing along information they find to officials in Mexico. They are adamant about finding fentanyl labs, which emit chemicals, making them easier to find from the air.
“A lot of that stuff was in some ways perfected during our counterinsurgency fights and things overseas, Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere,” Retired Lt. Colonel Darin Guab said in an interview with NewsNation. “So if they are used along our side of the border, they can see quite a bit that would be very useful for the intelligence community to put together a picture of what’s happening.”
The Mexican government has taken some steps of its own to address issues on the border, including deploying up to 10,000 troops to the area.
-NewsNation
