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Drugs

‘Show Us the Video’: Lawmakers Seek Transparency in Anti-Drug Boat Strikes

OPINION / FINE PRINT — “We have asked the Mexican government to also step up their involvement in stopping these cartels and stopping the huge amount [...] More

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Can the CIA and U.S. military stop the Mexican cartels? 

Can the CIA and U.S. military stop the Mexican cartels? 

CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING — On January 20, the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump formally labeled Mexico’s crime cartels as [...] More

Trump Administration Says Narco-Trafficking is #1 Threat - and Tries All-Hands Approach to Stop It

DEEP DIVE — When the U.S. intelligence community (IC) declared last week that the greatest danger to American national security is old-fashioned [...] More

Intel Chiefs Detail Top Threats – and Get a Grilling Over Signal Leak

Intel Chiefs Detail Top Threats – and Get a Grilling Over Signal Leak

SPECIAL REPORT – The U.S. Intelligence Community’s (IC) annual assessment of threats facing the U.S. puts narcotics trafficking at the top of the [...] More

To Fight Fentanyl Traffic, U.S. Needs More Than Law Enforcement

Cipher Brief COO Brad Christian spoke with Michael Vigil, former Chief of International Operations at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), [...] More

Can High-Profile Cartel Arrests Halt the Fentanyl Traffic? 

DEEP DIVE — Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a co-founder and leader of Mexico's notorious Sinaloa Cartel, has entered a not guilty plea to 17 drug [...] More

With China's Help, Mexico Is On The Verge of Becoming a 'Narco State'

With China's Help, Mexico Is On The Verge of Becoming a 'Narco State'

SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW — Deep inside a ravine on the outskirts of a western Mexican city overseen by among the world's most powerful drug [...] More

The Real Impact of COVID on Mexico's Drug Cartels

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, law enforcement has kept a close eye on the impact the virus might have on drug cartels. Supply chains [...] More

<p>Palacio Nacional (National Palace), Mexico City</p>

Mexico's Strategic Security Problem

Nine American women and children were killed by suspected drug cartel members in an attack in northern Mexico earlier this month, refocusing [...] More

Mexico's Internal War: 5 Questions for Michael Vigil

Mike Vigil is the former Chief of International Operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration. He is one of the most highly decorated agents [...] More

Targeting One of America’s Deadliest Foes: Opioids

Americans are facing one of their deadliest foes in recent history: not ISIS, but opioids, painkillers that are highly addictive and killing [...] More

Trump's Deport Push Boosts MS-13

President Donald Trump invoked the deadly deeds of the violent street gang MS-13 in his State of the Union address, and again this week when [...] More

Another Deadly Scourge to Fear: Opioids as Weapons of War

Another Deadly Scourge to Fear: Opioids as Weapons of War

As the U.S. public-health system struggles to alleviate the scourge of opioid addiction that killed more than 50,000 Americans in 2016, a variation [...] More