Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Fri 05/23/2025 View Thu 05/22/2025 View Wed 05/21/2025 View Tue 05/20/2025 View Mon 05/19/2025 View Sun 05/18/2025 View Sat 05/17/2025
2025-02-02 Caribbean-Latin America
Erik Prince: Letters of Marque Would Allow Private Organizations to Wipe Out Drug Cartels
[Breitbart] Letters of Marque would allow private organizations to operate in the “dead space” in between government bureaucracies where the Mexican drug cartels operate, Erik Prince, an American veteran and the founder of Unplugged Technologies explained during an interview with Breitbart News Saturday.

Prince spoke with Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle about a recent post from Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), discussing what Letters of Marque and Reprisal were and how they could be used to weaken the drug cartels. Prince admitted that he had “helped put this idea in Senator Lee’s head.”

“Letters of marque and reprisal are government-issued commissions that authorize private citizens (privateers) to perform acts that would otherwise be considered piracy, like attacking enemy ships during wartime Privateers are rewarded with a cut of the loot they ‘bring home,'” Lee explained in his post.

When asked by Boyle “what the process would be for a Letter of Marque to be issued” and if it would come from the White House or Congress, Prince explained that the “last Letter of Marque” had been issued after Pearl Harbor “to a blimp operator who was authorized to hunt Japanese submarines.”

“I believe the last Letter of Marque was actually issued after Pearl Harbor in 1942, and it was actually issued to a blimp operator who was authorized to hunt Japanese submarines off the coast of California. And, I don’t know if that was a simple vote of Congress, or if that was a committee procedure, or what. But, that model — you could actually do something similar with a presidential finding today, giving an entity — a private organization a hunting license. And, then of course, when they were issued to ships, you’d have to post a bond — a performance bond of certain rules you’re going to follow, effectively rules of engagement for them to proceed,” Prince explained.

“So, that could be done in certain areas of Mexico, certain areas of Latin America, to soak up the spoils of the illegal trade and of course the cartels’ ability to operate and to terrorize local civilian populations,” Prince said.

When asked by Boyle if Prince thought this “would help solve the problem of the Mexican drug cartels” and help the United States “do certain things that maybe we aren’t doing” in order to stop the flow of drugs and human trafficking across the border, Prince explained that “one of the system problems” the U.S. has with its security apparatus “is all kinds of stove pipes.”

“One of the systemic problems we have — call it a structural problem of the U.S. security apparatus is all kinds of stove pipes. Because now you have China organizing fentanyl. So, you have a paycom area interest, pushing chemicals into Mexico, where they’re now fabricated into fentanyl and then pushed north. So, is it a northern command issue? Is it a DEA issue? Is it a border patrol issue? Is it a paycom issue?” Prince said.

“The problem is, you have so many different bureaucracies involved that no one is able to swim in between those bureaucracies in that dead space — the cartels do, but no government entity can move that quickly. So, the cartels basically operate inside of the OODA Loop of the U.S. government. And, really, only a private organization is going to be able to move that decisively with the flexibility required.”

“The cartels make enormous amounts of money that let’s them buy very good technology, very high end talent, very high end weaponry. They out gun Mexican law enforcement. I feel terrible for a state or local cop, or a federal cop in Mexico, because within days of coming on to a certain drug team, their family members are getting visited,” Prince continued.
Posted by Skidmark 2025-02-02 00:20|| || Front Page|| [11135 views ]  Top

#1 Give Prince a private military contract, an area of operation, and turn him loose.
Posted by Besoeker 2025-02-02 02:23||   2025-02-02 02:23|| Front Page Top

#2 Sounds like a "New-Blackwater" type solution.

If it can keep its nose clean to go around, given its new owners.

Posted by NN2N1 2025-02-02 04:48||   2025-02-02 04:48|| Front Page Top

#3 Sounds good to me. Go get 'em boys.
Posted by Whiskey Mike 2025-02-02 07:44||   2025-02-02 07:44|| Front Page Top

#4 Not sure about the keeping a percentage of the spoils; suppose the gov’t could offer s bounty on the drugs and guns/weapons, but since the cartels deal in illicit things/ operations, where is the legitimate reward for the holders of such letters?
Posted by USN, Ret. 2025-02-02 09:09||   2025-02-02 09:09|| Front Page Top

#5 They deal in the illicit and illegal — and avocados — but they own all sorts of fancy cars, guns, airplanes, houses, jewelry, decorative items, USN, Ret. All the usual things collected by stereotypical nouveau riche gangster types.
Posted by trailing wife 2025-02-02 10:31||   2025-02-02 10:31|| Front Page Top

#6 The live wire here is potential liability for actions.
Can the actions under Marque cause you go to war?
Posted by ed in texas 2025-02-02 10:41||   2025-02-02 10:41|| Front Page Top

#7 an area of operation

The web of deceit, and the money train, is global.
Let them keep what they capture.
Privateers!
Posted by Skidmark 2025-02-02 11:25||   2025-02-02 11:25|| Front Page Top

#8 There is also head money- paid per enemy captured or killed. This could be extended to drugs destroyed.
Posted by Ululating Platypus 2025-02-02 18:04||   2025-02-02 18:04|| Front Page Top

#9 There is also head money- paid per enemy captured or killed.

Along with both ears, of course.

The live wire here is potential liability for actions. Can the actions under Marque cause you go to war?

Not a lawyer, but in practical terms, yes. There will be f**kups mistakes, of course, some of them appalling. But think of it like hiring a cleaning crew to tidy up the office. You could do it in-house, but outsourcing to the commercial world is simply simpler.

It is another tool in the toolbox. You can chastise miscreants without having to go all To the Shores of Tripoli on their bothersome asses. That card you can save for later when it is time to escalate.

Posted by SteveS 2025-02-02 18:45||   2025-02-02 18:45|| Front Page Top

#10 I don’t think the letters work on land in Mexico. The cartels have RPGs and above. The army and police are bought off. There will be too many civilian casualties. They work on the high seas against cigarette boats in the Caribbean. They would also work against the Houthi and Somalis. They would probably work on land with regard to drones.
Posted by Super Hose 2025-02-02 18:58||   2025-02-02 18:58|| Front Page Top

#11 The Pangas off San Diego are pretty much all Cartel human trafficking. Drugs, et al, are via inland
Posted by Frank G 2025-02-02 19:11||   2025-02-02 19:11|| Front Page Top

#12 I don’t think the letters work on land in Mexico. The cartels have RPGs and above. The army and police are bought off.

I agree. It is a matter of scale. If your PMC is the size of Wagners with organic artillery and capable of invading a country, maybe. But at some point, you need to fire up your national army and go to work.

It will be interesting to see if there is enough functional government left in Mexico for our military to coordinate with.
Posted by SteveS 2025-02-02 21:28||   2025-02-02 21:28|| Front Page Top

16:05 swksvolFF
15:26 Procopius2k
15:23 NN2N1
14:59 Pancho Poodle8452
14:52 Rambler
14:51 Grom the Affective
14:41 Elmerert Hupens2660
14:31 Regular joe
14:28 trailing wife
14:25 magpie
14:18 Elmerert Hupens2660
14:14 Regular joe
14:10 Super Hose
14:08 Super Hose
14:08 Regular joe
14:02 Super Hose
14:01 trailing wife
14:01 trailing wife
13:58 trailing wife
13:56 Super Hose
13:54 trailing wife
13:51 Super Hose
13:44 Elmerert Hupens2660
13:22 Difar Dave









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com