Cartels Elevated to Terror Status Fuels Data Fusion (Image Credits: Pixabay)
Washington – The Trump administration dismantled longstanding barriers between spy agencies and police databases last year, equipping the CIA and others with tools to scour millions of American records in the fight against drug lords now labeled terrorists.
Cartels Elevated to Terror Status Fuels Data Fusion
Administration officials designated more than a dozen Latin American drug organizations as terrorist entities in September and November 2025, a move that unlocked legal pathways for intelligence sharing.[1]
Groups such as the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and MS-13 fell under this reclassification, aligning them with foreign terror laws from the Patriot Act and post-9/11 reforms.[1]
President Trump issued an executive order in March 2025 to shatter “information silos,” while the Justice Department shuttered its Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force on September 30.[1]
New Homeland Security Task Forces, overseen by figures like Stephen Miller, assumed control, subordinating the DEA and prosecutors to expanded White House and DHS authority.[1]
These shifts positioned the National Counterterrorism Center, led by Joe Kent, to oversee the flow of data from law enforcement to intelligence operations.
Compass Database Emerges as Privacy Flashpoint
At the heart of the changes lies the Compass system, a sprawling archive holding roughly 770 million records amassed by over 20 agencies targeting drug trafficking and organized crime.[1]
The repository includes FBI case files, banking details, State Department visas, Treasury suspicious transaction reports, Bureau of Prisons call logs, and even labor union investigations.
- FBI investigative files on suspects and witnesses
- Financial records from drug probes
- Visa and immigration data
- Prison communications logs
- Union-related criminal inquiries
Intelligence leaders argued that terror designations justified access, with systems purportedly filtering out data on U.S. persons not linked to threats.[1]
Yet technical integrations proceeded quietly, bypassing broad congressional review.
Reviving Ghosts of Domestic Spying Reforms
Post-Watergate rules from the 1970s strictly limited intelligence collection on Americans, born from CIA overreach into anti-war and civil rights groups under Presidents Johnson and Nixon.[1]
The 9/11 attacks prompted expansions like the NCTC’s 2004 creation, though it remained barred from domestic intelligence gathering.[1]
Obama-era strategies in 2011 sought better coordination on organized crime but preserved privacy walls around databases like Compass.
Trump’s approach accelerated missile strikes—at least 148 since last year—against suspected smugglers, drawing international law critiques.
Officials Sound Alarm on Unchecked Access
Sen. Ron Wyden warned that broader intelligence access to records on unsuspicious citizens “puts Americans’ freedoms at risk. The potential for abuse of that information is staggering.”[1]
Former OCDETF head Thomas Padden highlighted vulnerabilities: “You have witness information, target information, bank account information… You need checks and balances, and it’s not clear to me that those are in place.”[1]
One intelligence official lamented the haste: “None of this has been thought through very carefully – which is shocking.”[1]
FBI and DEA resisted NCTC oversight, fearing privacy breaches and case harms, while civil liberties groups decried the opacity.
Key Takeaways
- Terror labels on cartels and antifa enable intel access to 770 million law enforcement records, including U.S. citizen data.
- OCDETF shutdown funnels control to DHS task forces with minimal safeguards.
- Historical privacy protections face erosion amid rushed implementations.
These maneuvers promise sharper strikes against global crime but threaten the delicate balance shielding ordinary Americans from surveillance overreach. As connections deepen, the true cost to civil liberties remains a pressing question. What do you think about this data-sharing shift? Tell us in the comments.
For deeper details, see the ProPublica investigation.[1]