The War on "Narcoterrorism" Is a War on You

The new narrative follows the same old authoritarian ones.

This week, Donald Trump announced the US military had struck a "narcoterrorist" ship carrying "illegal" drugs to the United States. He offered no evidence that drugs were on board or that the 11 people killed were “narcoterrorists.”

Even so, many Trump loyalists cheered the violence, continuing to submit to the narrative that Daddy Trump is taking out bad guys who want to harm America. In reality, the move represents an intersection of two of the most harmful, liberty-crushing policies of the last several decades: the war on drugs and the war on terror.

Almost immediately upon taking office, Trump issued an executive order declaring cartels terrorist organizations. The term "narcoterrorism" has become a buzzword in recent months, but it has been around for decades. It tends to refer to either 1) the tendency of cartels and drug trafficking groups to use violence against government officials or 2) the involvement of terror groups in the drug trade to raise funds for their operations;

The term is certainly scary and conjures violent, distressing images of evildoers and predators. But a much bigger threat comes from the wars that allegedly fight these evils.

Two Wars, One Authority

President Richard Nixon declared his war on drugs in 1971, which began a trend of the expansion of the police state and militarized law enforcement. While SWAT teams were first established in the 1960s to deal with riots, hostage situations, and other tactical events, by the 1980s, these militarized, 'tactical' police units were increasingly common, often for drug operations. They reportedly went from an estimated 3,000 per year in 1980 to 40,000 at the turn of the millennium and then to 60,000 in 2015. No-knock warrants, which have led to tragic outcomes, have increased alongside militarized raids. Along with this aggressive war on drugs came mass incarceration, including for nonviolent offenses.

By the late 1980s and early 1990s, the intersection of militarism with the war on drugs was intensifying. Congress moved to make the US military a key, if not lead player, in the drug war, tasking the agency with detecting and monitoring illegal drugs coming into the US. In 1990 and 1991, Congress authorized a temporary program via the National Defense Authorization Act that allowed the military to transfer weapons to federal and state agencies for use in “counter-drug” activities.

As the war on drugs raged, terrorism came to the forefront of American consciousness. Around the same time the US became more involved in the Middle East, terror attacks became a bigger threat in the nation's awareness and fears. Amid incidents like the 1983 US embassy bombing in Beirut, Lockerbie bombing in 1988, and the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, the Reagan and Clinton administrations decried terrorism and vowed to fight it.

In 1997, Congress codified the now infamous 1033 program in the National Defense Authorization Act, fusing the war on drugs with the war on terror in a military context. The law deemed military gear and weaponry as “suitable for use by the agencies in law enforcement activities, including counter-drug and counter-terrorism activities.” This was an expansion of Congress’ earlier, temporary provisions to allow domestic law enforcement to use military gear in the war on drugs.

This further expanded the encroaching police state and the 'new normal' of militarized police in the United States. The US military had long been policing the world, but now its weapons were coming home as a matter of policy. After widespread protests against police brutality in 2014, Obama ‘reformed’ the 1033 program, but an ACLU analysis found those efforts “had no impact.” In more recent years, Trump has moved to make it easier for law enforcement to obtain more military gear.

With 9/11 came the War on Terror and US military invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan, followed by drone wars in numerous other countries. Early on, the notorious Patriot Act passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. The mass surveillance measure was hailed as a way to protect the American people and keep them safe. As time wore on, however, the unconstitutional surveillance law was used more often for drug investigations than stopping terrorism.

The government's laws on "narcoterrorism" merged with the war on terror amid a renewal of the Patriot Act in 2006. That legislation explicitly named "narcoterrorism,” further fusing the two "wars." Today, narcoterrorism is the justification for yet another foreign incursion as Trump hailed this week’s strike and its consequent extrajudicial killings as a resounding success.

Parallel Failures

In both cases, the authorities' narratives promote intense fear among the population, driving public support for the policies. To be sure, cartels and terror groups are terrifying, and they cause real harm. But in both cases, both problems have been fueled—not alleviated—by government policy and force.