After militarizing U.S. streets, Trump turns guns on the drug trade

['Washington Bureau Chief', 'Michael Wilner Is The Washington Bureau Chief For The Los Angeles Times. He Has Spent More Than A Decade Covering The Federal Government With A Focus On The White House. Before Joining The Times', 'Wilner Was Chief Washington Correspondent For Mcclatchy', 'Where His Enterprise', 'International Reporting Was Recognized With Multiple Awards. He Previously Covered Foreign Affairs In Washington', 'Overseas For The Jerusalem Post. Wilner Is A Graduate Of Claremont Mckenna College', 'Columbia University', 'Is A Native Of New York City.'] Los Angeles Times 2025-09-06 00:00:00

Ten of them are being deployed by a newly branded War Department to Puerto Rico to combat drug traffickers in dinghies. But U.S. service members have no training in local law or drug enforcement. AdvertisementU.S. drug policy “has always been semi-militarized,” said Jeremy Adelman, director of the Global History Lab at Princeton University. “This is more a performative attack on the Venezuelan regime than a serious attempt at drug policy,” Gootenberg said. “Militarized drug policy is nothing new — it was tried and intensified in various ways from the mid-1980s through 2000s, oftentimes under U.S. Southern Command,” he added.