The CIA is expanding its counterterrorism efforts to focus on international drug cartels, launching a new initiative aimed at dismantling smuggling networks operating across U.S. borders, according to Deputy Director Michael Ellis.
As early as this week, the agency will establish the Americas Counternarcotics Mission Center, which will combine personnel focused on counternarcotics and the Western Hemisphere to streamline coordination and speed up operations.
Ellis said the CIA plans to apply decades of expertise gained from tracking Islamist terrorists to targeting cartel operations abroad. The move aligns with the Trump administration’s designation of cartel members as foreign terrorists and signals a major shift in CIA priorities, which have long been centered on the Middle East and South Asia. That focus will continue, Ellis noted, but now with increased attention to Latin America.
Ellis’s first official trip as deputy director took him to the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego, where he met with officials from the FBI, DHS, and Customs and Border Protection. He emphasized that the new effort will involve multiple agencies and international partners. “The drug trafficker is a savvy, sophisticated adversary,” Ellis said. “[We’re] looking further upstream to identify those networks beyond our borders and dismantle them.”
He added that while the CIA’s work may not be visible to the public, its impact would be reflected in fewer American deaths from fentanyl and other illicit drugs.
