Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared Tuesday that the United States military has “only just begun” its campaign against suspected narco-terrorists.
During this ninth Trump cabinet meeting, Hegseth shared the Department of War’s commitment to continue strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans that are suspected of trying to transport narcotics to the United States.
“We’ve only just begun striking narco boats and putting narco terrorists at the bottom of the ocean because they’ve been poisoning the American people,” he said.
“Joe Biden tried to approach it with kid gloves and allowed them to come across the border, cartels take over a community, 20 million people, hundreds of thousands of Americans poisoned. And President Trump said, ‘No, we’re taking the gloves off. We’re taking the fight to these designated terror organizations,’” Hegseth added.
Trump jumped in to state there has been a 91 percent reduction in drugs entering the United States via sea.
According to NPR, there had been 21 strikes on suspected drug boats as of November 15.
“We’ve had a bit of a pause because it’s hard to find boats to strike right now, which is the entire point,” Hegseth said to laughs from other cabinet officials. “Deterrence has to matter, not arrest and hand over and then do it again, the rinse and repeat approach of previous administrations. This is meant to get after that approach.”
Hegseth also reaffirmed his support for the “commanders” who make “judgment calls” during such strikes, after the White House said Monday that Admiral Frank Bradley “worked well within his authority and the law” during strikes on September 2.
“As President Trump always has our backs. We always have the back of our commanders who are making decisions in difficult situations, and we do in this case and all these strikes, they’re making judgment calls and ensuring that they defend the American people,” Hegseth said.
“They’ve done the right things. We’ll keep doing that, and we have their backs,” he added.
