Yes, the US Military Knows the Difference Between Narco-boats and Fishermen

Over the past several weeks, President Donald Trump’s counternarcotics strikes in the Caribbean and now the Pacific have marked a turning point for Washington, directing the U.S. security apparatus to confront the deadly narco-terrorist threats in our hemisphere. The outcome has been undeniably positive, effectively collapsing narcotics trafficking across the Caribbean and sending a clear message to both friends and foes. But that hasn’t stopped critics from making outlandish claims about the dangers of the U.S. military’s highly targeted strikes against narco-traffickers.

One of the more prominent talking points from far-left critics is that the U.S. military is actually mistakenly striking fishing boats instead of narcos. Despite its absurdity, this claim continues to be parroted by the media and the far left, who suggest that the military lacks the capacity to differentiate between fisherman and narco-boats.

In reality, there are several ways that the military, and even the casual observer, can identify a narco-boat. Unlike humble fishing boats, narco-trafficking vessels are typically specially outfitted and customized with expensive equipment that makes them ideal for drug running. This includes multiple top-level engines that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars as well as expensive customized structures or hulls ideal for avoiding detection and carrying large quantities of narcotics.

These visually distinct vessels are unflagged, featuring none of the radio transponders a fishing vessel in international waters would normally have. Not only that, but their departure origin, routes, and behavior make them clearly distinct from fishing boats.

That’s all without considering the specialized intelligence and surveillance capacities the military certainly has and leverages in these strikes.

The U.S. military knows a great deal about what drug boats look like—in part because for decades they’ve been forced to watch helpless as seaborne narcos traffic deadly drugs to the U.S.

In 2014, U.S. Southern Command told Congress that a lack of resources meant the commander had to “sit and watch” 74% of suspected drug trafficking boat just go by. Since that testimony, SOUTHCOM received important new detection and surveillance capacities.

But until this year, this simply gave the U.S. military a clearer picture of how much narco-trafficking it was unable to disrupt. In fact, in March 2025, SOUTHCOM’s estimate of the proportion of drug shipments it was intercepting dropped from 26% in 2014 to just 9%.

But that all changed in September. The U.S. military in Southern Command’s area now has the largest grouping of naval assets it has seen since the Cuban missile crisis—including, as of this week, an aircraft carrier group.

Narco-terrorists and narco-dictators kill 100,000 Americans each year—while destabilizing the U.S. The Trump administration is right to take bold action and refocus resources on these dire threats in our hemisphere. The military has a central role to play in that effort, as should our partners and allies in Latin America.

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