"We Do Bad Things To Bad People": Hegseth Unveils New Motto For Counter Cartel Coalition

Via The Libertarian Institute 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared that the new motto of the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (ACCC) is "we do bad things to bad people."

"The new motto of the ACCC is 'we do bad things to bad people.' That’s the mentality I want to have inside this room," he said on Wednesday. "Ultimately, we’re dealing with bad people that have done a lot of bad things to a lot of good people for a very long time. And they’re about to meet a new sheriff in town in the ACCC."

Under President Donald Trump and Hegseth, the Department of War has significantly expanded military operations in South America. The US has bombed dozens of vessels it claims are operated by cartels. Additionally, the US has attacked Venezuela and kidnapped the country’s president, and Trump is threatening that Cuba is next. 

The ACCC is an American-led coalition that Hegseth says will target "narco-terrorists" and drug traffickers. US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) has conducted dozens of strikes, killing over 200 people. The Pentagon has labeled the dead as narco-terrorists. However, several family members of victims have asserted the dead were engaged in fishing or other legal activities. The DEA says the operations have not impacted the flow of drugs into the US.

Last month, The Washington Post reviewed a DEA assessment that found the strikes on vessels operated by alleged narco-terrorists have not changed the amount or price of cocaine entering the US. US military officials also admitted to Congress that the operations have had no impact on purity.

The DEA said that cartels have designed new methods to smuggle drugs into the US. Cartels have bribed Colombian officials to get the location of US warships and used small aircraft for alternative routes to traffic cocaine into the US. 

"When you squeeze the balloon on one side, it always expands on the other side," one DEA official told The Post. "They always find the weak spots and exploit them."

A senior Colombian official also told the outlet that the US military operations have had little impact on the cartels. "There was a dissuasive effect in one type of transportation," the source explained.

"So it has forced them to seek out other methods. Taking the drugs out through ports has increased, stockpiling it on large ships," the official added.

Hegseth travels to Panama, calls narcoterrorists and traffickers 'the ISIS and al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere' at conference https://t.co/wUYUJIhqpy via @OANN

— Terrie Lake (@terrielake) August 13, 2026

Congress has not authorized the President to wage war against foreign drug cartels. The White House has attempted to justify the lethal operation by designating the cartels as narco-terrorists. However, drug smuggling is a criminal act, not an act of war. Senator Rand Paul has argued the strikes amount to extrajudicial killing.