America finally has a Director of National Intelligence who understands that national security means protecting American lives first, not shielding bureaucratic careers. Tulsi Gabbard — now serving as DNI after a contentious Senate confirmation — has been stepping into that role with the blunt, no-nonsense posture the country needs.
Gabbard took to the airwaves this weekend on Fox programming to make a simple, unmistakable point: when the president says he will take the fight to the cartels, he means it. Her appearance underscored that the administration’s campaign to dismantle the trafficking networks flooding our streets with fentanyl is not rhetorical theater but a coordinated national-security priority.
The rest of the Cabinet is matching that tone, too — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has publicly said that “all options are on the table” when it comes to going after cartel leadership and their maritime smuggling operations. That’s the kind of clarity and resolve Americans were promised and rarely saw from Washington elites who preferred press conferences to results.
Words have already been backed by action: the administration has shifted forces and assets to the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific and signaled a willingness to use targeted strikes and naval deployments to interdict lethal shipments before they reach our shores. For fathers and mothers watching communities hollowed out by poison, this is the kind of decisive posture that will save lives.
Yes, the critics in coastal think tanks and late-night chatter will howl about precedent and paperwork, but those same critics spent years looking the other way while hundreds of thousands were killed by drugs pouring across an open border. If the cost of getting tough on the cartels is a lecture from a columnist, I’ll take that trade any day over another funeral in a backyard.
Patriots should applaud DNI Gabbard and the administration for finally treating narco-terrorism like the existential threat it is, and pressure Congress to give the commanders and law-enforcement professionals the tools they need. This is about protecting American families, restoring rule of law, and reclaiming our sovereignty — and anyone who stands in the way should be prepared to explain themselves to the voters next election.
