Pete Hegseth Denounces Drug Traffickers as 'Al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere'

Defense Department's Role in Homeland Security

• 🇺🇸 The Department of Defense is proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with agencies on the Homeland Security Task Force, defending the homeland after two decades of defending other nations.
• 📈 Troop morale is high, with 10,000 troops deployed to the southwest border, proud to defend their communities and country.

Mission: Protecting Against Invasion

• 🛡️ An executive order clarified the mission: protecting the American people against invasion, leading the Department of Defense to the southwest border.
• 🔒 The border is described as 100% controlled, with troops standing alongside Border Patrol.

Countering Terrorist Organizations

• 🎯 Operations are now on the offense, targeting designated terrorist organizations and foreign terrorist organizations, not just cartels.
• ⚔️ These groups are compared to al-Qaeda and ISIS, described as the "al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere."

Tactics and Message to Traffickers

• ☠️ Drug traffickers are accused of intimidation, terror, extortion, and poisoning Americans.
• 📉 Every drug boat interdicted is stated to save 25,000 American lives.
• 🔍 The message to these organizations is clear: "We will find you. We will map your networks. We will hunt you down. And we will kill you."
• 🌐 Evidence of these strikes, in both the Caribbean and Pacific, demonstrates knowledge of the individuals, their networks, origins, and cargo.

Defeating and Destroying Threats

• 💥 The Department of Defense aims to defeat and destroy these terrorist organizations, not just degrade or arrest them.
• 🤝 This mission makes the jobs of law enforcement safer and communities more secure.
• ✅ Defending the homeland is considered a core mission of the Department of Defense.