MCA Scuttlebutt #219: War Against the Cartels with Ben Connable
42 snips
Nov 13, 2025 
Ben Connable, a former Marine intelligence officer and author, delves into the complexities of battling cartels and drug trafficking. He discusses the challenges of shifting from law enforcement to military responses and the risks of irregular warfare. Connable contrasts threats from entrenched Mexican cartels with Venezuelan gangs and provides insights into operational complexities across countries like Haiti and Colombia. He also emphasizes the necessity of public messaging and setting realistic expectations for long campaigns against these organizations.
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Irregular Wars Are The Likely Next Fight
- Large irregular wars are the likeliest future conflicts and the U.S. lacks recent, practiced readiness for them.
- Ben Connable warns policymakers to anticipate messy, prolonged counterinsurgency challenges rather than quick kinetic fixes.
Bombing Won't Stop The Drug Flow
- Airstrikes alone will not break transnational drug cartels or stop narcotics flowing to the U.S.
- Connable argues demand in the U.S. means bombing will at best slow and not solve the problem.
Venezuela: Conventional And Hidden Threats
- Venezuela presents a mixed threat: visible conventional forces plus complex irregular groups embedded in society.
- Connable stresses irregulars' adaptability and redundancy make them harder to dismantle than state forces.
