Countering Non-State Actors

What would a medium-term (two to three years) US strategy to counter the newly foreign-terrorist-organization–designated cartels or transnational gangs include? A response should address internal and external components and assess the elements of the US government that could play a role, accounting for unique authorities and capabilities. This project could also explore ways the United States could collaborate with foreign governments to eliminate the identified cartels or transnational gangs effectively.

• Atkins, Lt. Col. Matthew D., "Boy Scouts, Bureaucracy and Counter-Network Targeting: Insights from Non-Profit Organizational Structure and Their Application to Counterterrorism Targeting and Methodology," AF Fellows (Hoover), 2014.

  • Provides a tactical and operational strategy for dismantling the organizational structures of terror cells and transnational networks. The paper observes that while cartels and terror groups often utilize flat or networked structures, they still rely on hierarchical bureaucratic functions to achieve large-scale success and strategic impact. To counter these organizations effectively, Atkins argues against traditional leadership decapitation, recommending instead that counter-network targeting focus on identifying and eliminating the individuals who create value and provide connecting functions within the bureaucracy. By disrupting these critical relationships and bureaucratic linkages, the US and its partners can severely degrade the network's operational capacity, especially in areas where host nation politics or foreign authorities limit direct strikes on high-profile leaders.

• Dawley, LTCOL Shawn et al, "Repairing the Interagency: Capturing the Gains of the Post 9/11 Wars," AF Fellows (Kennedy), 2014.
  • Proposes structural reforms to the US national security apparatus to enable effective whole-of-government campaigns against non-state actors like terrorists and drug cartels. The authors emphasize that successful strategies rely on the Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) model, which proved highly effective in countering narcotics from Latin America by task-organizing personnel from various agencies around a specific threat and equipping them with the requisite authority to execute operations. To build a resilient medium-term strategy, the paper recommends establishing civil-military operational engagement teams and empowering JIATFs to bridge the gap between military planners, diplomatic efforts, and civilian agencies, ensuring a unified domestic and international effort against transnational networks.
• DeStefano, Anthony M., "Unconventional Relationship: Preparing a Military Force to Work with Department of Justice Prosecutors to Fight Terrorism and Other National Security Threats," AFGC thesis, 2019.
  • Explores the internal and external components of US government collaboration by examining how the Department of Defense (DoD) must integrate seamlessly with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to apprehend and prosecute transnational organized criminals and terrorists. Highlighting Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S) as a successful model for counter-drug operations, the paper demonstrates how military detection and monitoring can be legally and operationally handed over to law enforcement detachments (like the Coast Guard) and DOJ prosecutors to dismantle networks through "end-to-end" intelligence generation. To collaborate effectively with foreign governments, the paper also recommends sending resident legal advisors to build and enhance partner nations' domestic prosecution capabilities, thereby strengthening the global legal framework against non-state actors.
• Fambrough, Leslie, "Revisiting the Merida Initiative," AWC SSP, 2020.
  • Answers the question by evaluating the bilateral US-Mexico Merida Initiative and proposing strategic shifts to effectively counter Mexican cartels over the coming years. The paper argues that current efforts fail because they pit an under-resourced initiative against cartels generating hundreds of billions of dollars annually, essentially treating them as a well-armed criminal insurgency. To alter the trajectory, the author recommends realigning the strategy to fit mutual US-Mexico priorities and drastically reconsidering US domestic drug and gun policies. By reducing the flow of firearms into Mexico and implementing alternative domestic drug policies to slash the cartels' revenue streams, the US can reduce the cartels' capacity for violence to a level manageable by domestic authorities while minimizing direct US culpability for Mexican instability.
• Hulshizer, Lt. Col. Eric D., "Every Wallet a Target: Fusing Financial and Military Targeting in Strategy for the Decisive Decade," SAASS thesis, 2024.
  • Answers the query by proposing a medium-term strategy that aggressively utilizes Counter Threat Finance (CTF) to disrupt the illicit networks of transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs). Internally, the paper advocates for a whole-of-government approach that breaks down bureaucratic barriers between counterterrorism, counternarcotics, and counter networks, integrating the unique capabilities of the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of State, and the Treasury. Externally, the author explores the potential ramifications of designating narcotics cartels as FTOs, noting that this specific legal authority would grant the U.S. military expanded intelligence gathering and direct strike capabilities against these groups. To eliminate these organizations effectively, the strategy relies on collaborating with international partners to enforce anti-money laundering regulations, enhance financial due diligence, and conduct joint operations to cut off the cartels' access to the global digital financial system.
• Khasilev, Eugene, "If Drugs Meet Digits: Anticipating the Adoption of Cybercrime by Transnational Criminal Organizations," AFGC thesis, 2024.
  • Outlines a strategy to counter TCOs as they increasingly blend traditional physical crimes—like drug and human trafficking—with sophisticated cyber extortion and surveillance. To combat this hybrid threat, the paper argues that the U.S. must prioritize cybercrime as a critical national security issue on par with physical drug trafficking. Internally, the strategy leverages the unique expertise of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to disseminate cybersecurity guidance and technical documents. Externally, the author proposes using CISA to build the capacity of allied Latin American governments by sharing this intelligence in Spanish, thereby helping foreign partners defend their own information infrastructure. By relying on established precedents of civil-military cooperation and multinational coalitions, this collaborative approach aims to deny cartels the digital environments they use to enrich themselves and entrench their power within civil societies.
• Lowrie, Lt. Col. Jacob, "Defending the Gate: Exploring the US Military's Role in Homeland Defense," SAASS thesis, 2024.
  • Addresses the question by analyzing the legal, organizational, and diplomatic hurdles of employing the U.S. military against Mexican drug cartels. The paper assesses internal government elements by examining the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Northern Command (NORTHCOM), and the Joint Interagency Task Force-South (JIATF-South), noting that under current Title 10 and Posse Comitatus limitations, the DoD is largely restricted to a supporting role for law enforcement and lacks the authority to proactively threaten or deter cartels. To counter this, the author explores proposed legislation—such as the Ending the NARCOS Act and the Declaring War on the Cartels Act—which would formally designate cartels as FTOs, establish interagency task forces, and empower the Treasury to block cartel-related financial transactions. Externally, the paper emphasizes that any successful strategy must prioritize collaboration with the Mexican government and military; unilateral U.S. kinetic strikes would be viewed as an invasion, severely damaging a $1 trillion trade relationship and potentially driving further mass migration.
• Martin, Maj. Zachary, "The Hydra: The Strategic Paradox of Human Security in Mexico," ACSC, 2020. 
  • This paper addresses the prompt by proposing a medium-term structural strategy, deemed the "Hydra Theory," to counter the escalating threat of Mexican drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations. Martin argues that the traditional US and Mexican "counter network decapitation" strategy—which relies on militarized raids to target cartel kingpins—actually fractures cartels, thereby increasing violent competition and corruption. To effectively counter these non-state actors, Martin recommends a combined two-vector strategy targeting both trafficking and corruption. Internally, the United States must focus its policies on domestic drug-demand reduction, which will decrease the illicit market's profitability and free up resources currently spent on supply-side interdiction. Externally, the US should redirect its security assistance programs away from federal military operations and instead collaborate with the Mexican government to subsidize, professionalize, and empower local and state law enforcement. By equipping local police with the intelligence and capabilities to enforce the law and actively punishing state bribe-taking, the US and foreign governments can close the principal-agent divide that allows cartels to subvert governance and perpetrate violence.
• Perez, Maj. Lupersio, "The Dragon in the Backyard: Unveiling China's Strategy in Latin America," AFGC thesis, 2025.
  • While primarily focused on great power competition, this paper answers the prompt by highlighting successful interagency collaboration between the US and foreign governments to eliminate TCOs on their home turf. The study examines the threat of violent Mexican cartels and TCOs—such as the ELN and FARC factions—flooding the US with illicit drugs, humans, and weapons. To counter these transnational threats externally, the paper highlights the success of Joint Task Force Bravo, a collaborative effort housing roughly 600 US military personnel alongside other US government agencies at the Soto Cano Airbase in Honduras. By deploying advanced US equipment and interagency subject-matter experts to partner directly with Honduran forces, this initiative augments local border enforcement and disrupts TCO operations. Perez emphasizes that these external collaborations are vital because building stronger border cooperation within Latin American nations directly strengthens US homeland security, serving as a highly effective model for how US joint forces and interagency elements can collaboratively dismantle transnational gangs.
• Pototschnik, CDR Mark, "The Latin America and Caribbean Security Environment and the Need for Coast Guard Transformational Change," AWC SSP, 2022.
  • Pototschnik explores how the US Coast Guard can serve as a primary US government element to counter Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) operating in the maritime domain. The paper identifies TCOs engaged in human, arms, and narcotics trafficking as severe threats to US national security and regional governance. To counter these gangs, the paper outlines the US Coast Guard's Western Hemisphere Strategy, which utilizes offshore presence and intelligence integration to execute three lines of effort: Combatting Networks, Securing Borders, and Safeguarding Commerce. To effectively eliminate these non-state actors in the future, Pototschnik argues the Coast Guard must expand its international capacity-building efforts beyond evolutionary changes. By transforming into the nation's leading service provider for global maritime stability operations, the Coast Guard can uniquely leverage its broad law enforcement authorities and international agreements to build a unified, multinational defense network against transnational cartels before their illicit goods reach US borders.
• Torbert, Maj. Ashton R., "When the Outside Threat Becomes the Threat from Within," AFGC thesis, 2025.
  • The AUTL asks what a medium-term U.S. strategy to counter newly foreign-terrorist-organization-designated cartels or transnational gangs would include, specifically assessing elements of the U.S. government that could play a role and accounting for unique authorities. Torbert answers this by analyzing the threat of transnational criminal networks, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Tren de Aragua (TDA) gang, which exploit immigration vulnerabilities and operate as undocumented domestic terror organizations. To counter these non-state actors domestically, he proposes a whole-of-government defense strategy that leverages Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) to integrate National Guard, Reserve, and Active Duty military assets with local law enforcement and the FBI. Furthermore, Torbert calls for sweeping legal reforms—such as a proposed National Security Emergency Authorization Act—to expand mobilization authorities beyond the current constraints of the Posse Comitatus Act, allowing for rapid military deployment to dismantle these embedded criminal networks.
• Wheeler, Capt. Richard, "United States Military and the War on Drugs: Reframing with Operational Design," AWC SSP, 2019.
  • Addresses the query by examining the US military's historical role against Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and arguing that the strategy must reframe the problem from a domestic issue to a complex, global national security threat. Wheeler assesses that current military involvement has been ineffective due to misaligned strategic direction and a failure to identify the TCOs' center of gravity. To effectively eliminate these cartels, the paper proposes a new operational approach that shifts focus toward denying the incentivized environment that makes drug trafficking exceptionally profitable with minimal risk. This requires a concerted international coalition, global consensus, and a whole-of-government approach that treats the organizations as global security threats rather than localized law enforcement problems.
• Zaimis, Lt. Col. John, "The Fentanyl Dilemma: U.S. Military Superiority at Risk if Drug War is Approved," AF Fellows (Institute for Defense Analysis), 2024.
  • Answers the prompt by evaluating the risks of proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) legislation that would allow the President to deploy the military against foreign cartels trafficking fentanyl. Internally, the paper assesses the DoD's capabilities and argues that diverting Special Operations Forces and substantial defense budgets to fight a protracted war against cartels would severely degrade military readiness and distract from the pacing threat of Great Power Competition. Externally, the author warns that executing unilateral military operations would provoke intense diplomatic backlash, as Mexico's president has explicitly stated that foreign military intervention would violate Mexican sovereignty. The paper concludes that rather than relying on direct military force—which failed to yield lasting results in similar past efforts like Plan Colombia—the U.S. must avoid military overextension and pursue collaborative international relations, lest aggressive unilateral actions push alienated Latin American partners to align with strategic competitors like China.