President Donald Trump secretly signed a directive authorising the Pentagon to prepare the use of U.S. military force against certain Latin American drug cartels, according to a New York Times report confirmed by U.S. officials. The order, signed in recent days but disclosed on 8 August, instructs the Department of Defense to draw up operational plans targeting cartels that the administration has labelled foreign terrorist organisations. Officials familiar with the document told Reuters and the Wall Street Journal that the Pentagon is examining options ranging from naval interdictions at sea to limited raids by special-operations forces. While no timeline for action has been set, the directive gives the military legal cover to act without further congressional authorisation, raising questions among security lawyers about the scope of presidential war powers. The move follows the administration’s decision in February to add eight groups—including Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua—to the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the designation ‘allows us to use every element of American power’ against the groups, while White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly called the directive an extension of Trump’s pledge to stem the flow of fentanyl into the United States. Regional leaders reacted swiftly. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Washington had notified her government of the order but insisted ‘there will be no U.S. troops on Mexican soil,’ citing national sovereignty. Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro cautioned that any cross-border action would violate international norms. Analysts noted that similar proposals in Trump’s first term were shelved over legal and diplomatic concerns. If implemented, the directive would represent the most significant expansion of U.S. military action against transnational criminal organisations in decades, shifting the fight against drug trafficking from law-enforcement and intelligence channels to a potential kinetic campaign overseas.