Page 14 - AHATA

A2 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 20 august 2025

U.S. destroyers head toward waters off Venezuela as Trump aims

to pressure drug cartels

By MIKE PESOLI, AAMER Mexico as foreign terrorist
MADHANI and JORGE RUE- organizations. His Republi-
DA can administration has also
Associated Press stepped up immigration
WASHINGTON (AP) — The enforcement against al-
United States is deploying leged gang members.
three Aegis guided-missile The designation is normally
destroyers to the waters off reserved for groups like al-
Venezuela as part of Presi- Qaida or the Islamic State
dent Donald Trump’s effort group that use violence
to combat threats from Lat- for political ends not for
in American drug cartels, money-focused crime rings
according to a U.S. official such as the Latin American
briefed on the planning. cartels.
The USS Gravely, the USS But the Trump administra-
Jason Dunham and the USS tion argues the interna-
Sampson are expected to tional connections and
arrive soon, said the official, operations of the groups
who was not authorized to including drug trafficking,
comment and spoke Tues- migrant smuggling and vio-
day on the condition of lent pushes to extend their
anonymity. territory warrant the desig-
A Defense Department of- nation.
ficial confirmed that the View of the U.S.S. Gravely (DDG 107) destroyer, Feb. 13, 2024. Associated Press Earlier this month, the
military assets have been Trump government an-
assigned to the region in The deployment of U.S. violence in some U.S. cit- line when it comes to Mex- nounced it was doubling to
support of counter narcot- destroyers and person- ies.Trump has also pressed ico’s sovereignty, rejecting $50 million a reward for the
ics efforts. nel comes as Trump has Mexican President Claudia suggestions by Trump and arrest of Venezuelan Presi-
The official, who was not pushed for using the U.S. Sheinbaum to cooperate others of intervention by dent Nicolás Maduro, ac-
authorized to comment military to thwart cartels he more on security than her the U.S. military. cusing him of being one of
about military planning, blames for the flow of fen- predecessor, specifically Trump in February desig- the world’s largest narco-
said the vessels would be tanyl and other illicit drugs being more aggressive in nated Venezuela’s Tren de traffickers and working with
deployed “over the course into American communi- pursuit of Mexico’s cartels. Aragua, MS-13 in El Salva- cartels to flood the U.S. with
of several months.” ties and for perpetuating But she has drawn a clear dor and six groups based in fentanyl-laced cocaine.q

Trump administration revokes security clearances of 37 current

and former government officials

By ERIC TUCKER, AAMER MADHANI and broader clearance suspension on his first
MATTHEW LEE day in office, is part of a broader cam-
Associated Press paign by President Donald Trump’s ad-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump admin- ministration to scrutinize the judgments
istration moved Tuesday to revoke the of intelligence officials he personally dis-
security clearances of 37 current and agrees with.
former national security officials in the lat- Critics of his approach have said it risks
est act of retribution targeting public ser- chilling dissenting voices within the gov-
vants in the federal government’s intel- ernment.
ligence community. A memo posted by “”These are unlawful and unconstitu-
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national in- tional decisions that deviate from well-
telligence, accuses the targeted officials settled, decades-old laws and policies
of having engaged in the “politicization that sought to protect against just this
or weaponization of intelligence” to ad- type of action,” Mark Zaid, a national se-
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard arrives before vance partisan goals, as well as a failure curity lawyer whose own clearance was
President Donald Trump speaks at an event to mark National to safeguard classified information and a revoked by the Trump administration, said
Purple Heart Day in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, “failure to adhere to professional analytic in a statement.
Aug. 7, 2025, in Washington.
Associated Press tradecraft standards.” Many of the officials who were singled out
The action, coming months after an even left the government years ago. q