The operation is a surge in Coast Guard forces to the Eastern Pacific aimed at stopping cartels and transnational criminal organizations before their drugs and human smuggling operations reach U.S. shores, the Coast Guard said in an Oct. 14 release. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Operation Pacific Viper has averaged about 1,600 pounds of cocaine interdicted daily, resulting in 34 total interdictions since its launch.

“Operation Pacific Viper has proven to be a crucial weapon in the fight against foreign drug traffickers and cartels in Latin America and has sent a clear message that we will disrupt, dismantle and destroy their deadly business exploits wherever we find it,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “In cutting off the flow of these deadly drugs, the Coast Guard is saving countless American lives and delivering on President Trump’s promise to Make America Safe Again and reestablish our maritime dominance.”

In August, Operation Pacific Viper yielded the Coast Guard’s largest-ever drug offload, when the USCGC Hamilton offloaded more than 76,000 pounds of illegal drugs, valued at $473 million, at Port Everglades—including approximately 61,740 pounds of cocaine and 14,400 pounds of marijuana.

A U.S. Coast Guard crew member offloads seized cocaine in San Diego following Operation Pacific Viper in the Eastern Pacific. (U.S. Coast Guard)

CBP AGENTS SEIZE $1.3M WORTH OF METH AND HEROIN IN BORDER DRUG BUST AMID TRUMP’S WAR ON NARCOTERRORISM

‘A global logistics enterprise’

To better understand the scope of the cocaine trade and what such seizures mean for national security, Fox News Digital spoke with Spencer Coursen, a threat management specialist and former U.S. Army Ranger and special deputy marshal. Coursen explained that most cocaine bound for the U.S. originates along Colombia’s Pacific coast, with routes often passing through Ecuador, Peru or Venezuela before moving north via the Caribbean, Mexico or increasingly, the Pacific corridor.

People flock to Windansea Beach along the La Jolla coast on May 10, 2025, in San Diego, California. The Coast Guard has been targeting drug traffickers who have been sending narcotics toward American shores. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

As law enforcement efforts tightened along traditional routes, cartels shifted west, taking advantage of the vastness of the Pacific to evade detection.

“They’re not street gangs,” Coursen said. “They’re global logistics enterprises that rival Amazon, vertically integrated from jungle production to port distribution. They have infrastructure, surveillance, counter-surveillance and billions in cash and weapons to protect their routes.”

The U.S. Coast Guard approaches a suspected smuggling vessel in the Pacific Ocean during Operation Pacific Viper, part of ongoing efforts to disrupt cartel maritime networks. (U.S. Coast Guard)

WAR DEPARTMENT LAUNCHES NEW COUNTER-NARCOTICS TASK FORCE UNDER TRUMP DIRECTIVE TO CRUSH CARTELS

Coursen said that while the operation’s success spotlights the Coast Guard’s vigilance, it also gives a glimpse into the sheer scale and sophistication of the narcotics trade.

“Every win is great,” Coursen said. “But every win is also an insight into just how much cocaine is being moved. The most recent estimates show 3,000 to 4,000 tons a year—about 6 million pounds. So even massive interdictions like this are only scratching the surface.”

A U.S. Coast Guard cutter patrols the Eastern Pacific during Operation Pacific Viper, part of the service’s ongoing mission to intercept drug trafficking vessels at sea. (U.S. Coast Guard)

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Coursen warned that despite major seizures like Operation Pacific Viper, cartels’ vast resources allow them to absorb losses and continue operations.

“If nine out of 10 shipments are seized, they’re still making a profit,” he said. “Each one is insured by scale. To them, it’s a tariff—just the cost of doing business.”

He added that the U.S. remains the largest consumer of cocaine globally, accounting for an estimated 40% of worldwide demand.

Despite the success of Operation Pacific Viper, Coursen said interdiction alone will not solve the problem.

“It’s an enormous challenge,” he said. “But every interdiction is a win for national security, and for the men and women who put themselves in harm’s way to make it happen.”

Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a U.S. Writer at Fox News Digital. 

You can follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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A federal jury convicted Muhammad Pahlawan June 5, 2025, of conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists and to Iran’s weapons of mass destruction program, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He was also found guilty of conspiring to transport explosive devices to the Houthis, knowing they would be used to cause harm, and of threatening his crew.

According to court records, U.S. Central Command Navy forces operating from the USS Lewis B. Puller — including Navy SEALs and members of the U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team East — boarded a small vessel Jan. 11.

The boarding team encountered 14 people on the vessel, including Pahlawan. During the search, they seized Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry, including ballistic missile components, anti-ship cruise missile components and a warhead.

PENTAGON SEEKS TRUMP APPROVAL FOR FIRST US MILITARY EXECUTION IN 60 YEARS FOLLOWING FORT HOOD MASS SHOOTING

Some of the weaponry and components found in the smugglers’ vessel. The Department of Justice said the materials were consistent with what Iranian-backed Houthi rebels use in merchant and U.S. military attacks.  (Department of Justice)

The DOJ said the type of weaponry found on the vessel was consistent with arms used by Houthi rebel forces targeting merchant and U.S. military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

Pahlawan lied to the boarding team and told other crew members to lie, threatening their lives and the lives of their families.

Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers, left, and Navy Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram went missing during a nighttime boarding mission off the coast of Somalia.  (U.S. Navy)

Two Navy SEALs — Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers and Navy Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram — died during the encounter. The DOJ said Ingram began climbing a ladder onto the boat when he slipped and fell into a gap created by waves between the vessel and the SEAL watercraft.

US STRIKES ANOTHER ALLEGED DRUG-TRAFFICKING BOAT NEAR VENEZUELA, KILLING 4

As Ingram went under, Chambers jumped into the gap to try and save him.

Four foreign nationals were charged Thursday with transporting suspected Iranian-made weapons on a vessel intercepted by U.S. naval forces in the Arabian Sea last month.  (Department of Justice)

The DOJ said the Navy conducted an extensive search to find and rescue the SEALs, but they were declared dead Jan. 22.

Pahlawan’s trip that day was part of a larger operation, the DOJ added, explaining that from August 2023 through January 2024, he worked with two Iranian brothers — Shahab Mir’kazei and Yunus Mir’kazei — affiliated with the IRGC to smuggle materials from Iran to recipients, including Houthi rebel forces in Yemen.

4 CHARGED AFTER SEIZURE OF SUSPECTED IRANIAN-MADE WEAPONS IN VESSEL THAT LED TO DEATHS OF 2 NAVY SEALS: DOJ

A warhead found on board the vessel allegedly smuggling Iranian-made weapons. (Department of Justice)

He completed multiple smuggling missions by carrying cargo from Iran to the coast of Somalia, where he transferred it to another vessel during nighttime ship-to-ship operations, the DOJ said.

Pahlawan also worked with Shahab and Yunus to prepare the vessel for multiple smuggling missions, obtained coordinates from them for ship-to-ship transfers and was paid for his role in the operation.

On Feb. 11, 2024, the U.S. secured arrest warrants for four of the foreign nationals, identified as Pahlawan, Mohammad Mazhar, Ghufran Ullah and Izhar Muhammad.

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The four men, who were found with Pakistani identification cards, were transferred from the USS Lewis B. Fuller to the Eastern District of Virginia.

Mazhar, Ullah and Muhammad were also charged with providing materially false information to U.S. Coast Guard officers during the boarding of the vessel regarding the vessel’s crew and/or cargo.

Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.

Story tips and ideas can be sent to Greg.Wehner@Fox.com and on Twitter @GregWehner.

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In 2006, America’s NATO allies agreed to spend2% oftheir GDPon defense. After several years of little progress, the Obama administration secured anupdated agreementin 2014 that all would achieve this goal by 2024.Yet when Trump first entered office in 2017, onlyfiveof 28 nations had met thatmark.

The president and his national security team, including me, pressed our allies hard back then to live up to their commitments.By 2021, the number of NATO members doing so haddoubledand allied military spending increased considerably.

President Donald Trump, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaks during a news conference following the NATO Summit on June 25, 2025, in The Hague, Netherlands. On the summit agenda was a new defense investment plan that raised the target for defense spending to 5% of GDP. (Omar Havana/Getty Images)

Fast-forward to 2025.Aided by the ongoing war in Ukraine and a European fear of Vladimir Putin, Trump managed to achieve what many thought impossible: convince our NATO allies to spend a whopping5% of their GDPson defense!

In the economic space, the White House has similarly persuaded other nations to live up to past obligations when it comes to trade, using tariffs and other means where necessary to do so. This should be more apparent when it comes to future trade talks with China.

The communist state hasviolatedits obligations and reneged on numerous agreements for decades, from the theft of intellectual property to currency manipulation and the unfair subsidization of Chinese companies. During Trump’s first term, for example, the PRC notablynever purchasedthe $200 billion in additional U.S. exports it had promised.

China may be the most notorious country when it comes to reneging on commitments, but it’s not the only one.Many of America’s friends are also culpable, especially when it comes to deals made with U.S. companies.I have seen this during my own time in the private sector.

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This is enough of a problem that the House Appropriations Committee recently wrote in the Augustreportof their FY2026 spending bill for national security, Department of State and related programs that it “continues to be concerned by reports of commercial disputes between United States entities and host governments….”

The committee noted “particular concern” about “disputes over real property seized, held or expropriated by foreign governments.”The report went as far as to call out the governments of the “Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Honduras, Kuwait, and Mexico.”

Allegedly, Mexico’s state-owned oil company PermexowesAmerican contractors $1.2 billion. Kuwait is purportedlyaccusedof not paying the U.S. for its financial obligations – including for its Al Zour refinery, one of the largest oil refinery projects in the Middle East – where it reportedly has left U.S. and other contractors unpaid.

And,per the State Department, many U.S. companies operating in Honduras have “voiced concerns regarding politically motivated threats of criminal prosecution and expropriation of private assets.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to media at Ben Gurion International Airport, as he departs Tel Aviv for Qatar following an official visit, near Lod, Israel, Sept. 16, 2025. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

The committee concluded its report by directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio “to utilize the various tools of diplomatic engagement to…. facilitate the timely resolution of such disputes.” Such action, of course, begins with America’s diplomats abroad.

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U.S. ambassadors who are already on station in foreign capitals facing such matters should press their host governments on all levels. As should those persons being put forward to the Senate for such assignments – beginning with Amer Ghalib, who testified Thursday at a hearingto be America’s next ambassador to Kuwait (currently the only vacant post in the House Committee’s call out list).

Further, a separate congressional hearing on the broader issue of foreign governments allegedly backpedaling on their agreements with U.S. companies would also be quite helpful.

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The administration has appropriately spoken about protecting U.S. jobs, preserving American innovation, and ensuring fairness when it comes to global trade and business. We have seen the president’s team act on these instincts.And given the business backgrounds of many in the administration, they surely appreciate the challenges that American companies face when addressing business disputes with foreign governments.

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Just as the president did this year by getting our NATO allies to live up to their spending commitments when it comes to bolstering the alliance, applying this same focus and energy to help U.S. firms resolve their disputes with foreign governments would go a long way to helping American companies and workers.

If our allies and friends want the benefits of partnership with the United States, they must also honor their commitments – to our country, our businesses and our workers. That’s another good way to put America first and promote U.S. economic growth and prosperity.

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Mark T. Esper, Ph.D., served as the 27th secretary of Defense.

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“In support of the President’s directive to dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the Homeland, the Secretary of War has directed the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and embarked carrier air wing to the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility (AOR),” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement Friday.

“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” he added. “These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs.”

TRUMP DOUBLES DOWN ON COLOMBIA CRACKDOWN, CALLS PETRO ‘LUNATIC,’ VOWS TO END ALL US PAYMENTS OVER DRUGS

The world’s largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford seen in the North Sea during NATO Neptune Strike 2025 exercise on Sept. 24, 2025 in the North Sea. The  Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group has been ordered to embark to the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility, the Pentagon said Friday.  (Photo by JONATHAN KLEIN/AFP via Getty Images)

USSOUTHCOM’s area of responsibility includes the land mass of Latin America south of Mexico, the waters adjacent to Central and South America and the Caribbean Sea.

The strike group includes the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, according to the U.S. Navy, as well as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Mahan, USS Winston S. Churchill and USS Bainbridge.

The USS Gerald R. Ford is currently deployed to the Mediterranean Sea along with three destroyers. It would likely take several days for the ships to make the journey to South America. In August, the strike group transited the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel.

The deployment would mean there will be no U.S. aircraft carriers in the Middle East for the first time in years.

The Trump administration has ordered a number of strikes in the Caribbean aimed at dismantling and disrupting drug cartels in the region.

Most recently, War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Friday that a strike on a vessel allegedly operated by suspected members of Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Venezuelan street gang deemed a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), killed six alleged narco-terrorists.

ALLIANCE WITH US ‘DISMANTLED’ BY LEFTIST PETRO REGIME, COLOMBIA’S FORMER DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS

U.S. strikes on drug boats near Venezuelan waters may be targeted at taking out Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. (@realDonald Trump/Truth Social; Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)

“If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat al-Qaeda,” Hegseth wrote on X. “Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you.”

It marked the 10th strike targeting suspected drug trafficking boats since Trump returned to office. The president has made combating the nation’s drug crisis a central policy focus.

Trump has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of being a drug cartel leader as he continues to increase pressure on the Maduro regime.

Last week, Trump confirmed that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, saying he did so because the South American nation has released prisoners into the U.S. and that drugs were coming into the U.S. from Venezuela through sea routes.

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Meanwhile, the military strikes have attracted scrutiny from both sides of the aisle as questions swirl about their legality.

Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., recently introduced a war powers resolution that would prohibit U.S. armed forces from participating in “hostilities” against Venezuela.

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and Fox News’ Gillian Turner, Jennifer Griffin and James Levinson contributed to this report.

Louis Casiano is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to louis.casiano@fox.com.

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