'Can't rule out espionage': Mexico wary as Trump launches secret missions against cartels

The CIA has already been carrying out President Donald Trump's orders to conduct missions against drug cartels in Mexico, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The intelligence agency has been covertly flying MQ-9 Reaper drones across the border to spy on the cartels, current and former officials with knowledge of the matter told CNN. It's part of the new administration's dramatic reorientation of national security assets along the southern border.

"The missions, which have not been previously reported, come as the Trump administration moves to treat transnational drug cartels as terrorist organizations — a designation it has yet to officially make," the network reported. "The MQ-9 drones used for the missions are not currently armed. But they can be equipped with payloads to carry out precision strikes. The U.S. regularly uses them to target suspected terrorists in Syria, Iraq and Somalia."

The CIA has conducted similar surveillance missions inside Mexico before, according to a former and current U.S. official, including at least one small program alongside Mexican authorities, but some current and former officials say that designating cartels as terrorist groups could pave the way for direct strikes against the cartels and their drug labs across the border.

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The Mexican government has already been fielding questions about American military activity near the border, and Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum and other senior Mexican officials have said the spy plane flights have taken place in international airspace and over U.S. territory.

“We cannot rule out espionage because we do not know exactly what was done,” said Mexican Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla last week. “However, they did not violate national airspace.”

The CIA declined to comment specifically about the spy flights, but a spokesman said “countering drug cartels in Mexico and regionally is a priority for CIA as a part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to end the grave threat from narco-trafficking, [and] director [John] Ratcliffe is determined to put CIA’s unique expertise to work against this multifaceted challenge.”