Mexico’s drug cartels operate private armies that are used to control territory, and often engage in violence with rival criminal groups and even the Mexican government. The cartels may also be far more sophisticated than past criminal organizations, as they are now engaged in cyber operations, while they are also more ruthless. Their technological capabilities are showing to be highly advanced, and that could include the use of drones for surveillance.
There have been reports that Chinese “underground” bankers have aided the cartels in money laundering, but there is reason to believe the groups could be receiving materiel aid, including anti-tank weapons and other small arms. The drug cartels have also taken a cue from the Houthi militants and other terrorist groups in the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
Drones on the Border
The United States military has deployed around 10,000 troops to the southern border, and it has been employing U.S. Air Force spy planes and U.S. Navy helicopters in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Likewise, drones have long been used to provide an eye-in-the-sky for the military.
The mission of the U.S. military is to watch and observe.
Now, the cartels are following suit, and increasingly doing so with drones of their own. According to a report from Scripps News, military officials have said there are reports from U.S. military personnel that they’re being observed by drones.
So far, the Department of Defense (DoD) hasn’t issued orders to engage the drones, but if any hostile actions are made, the U.S. military personnel will respond accordingly.
“The revelation that Mexican cartels are actively monitoring U.S. Border Patrol movements using surveillance drones is more than just headlines – it’s a seismic shift in the asymmetry of conflict on the southern border. While the drones themselves may not be armed, their presence signals a strategic sophistication and technological adaptability that should alarm both policymakers and the national security community,” said geopolitical analyst Irina Tsukerman, president of political threat assessment firm Scarab Rising.
This development may further underscore the cartels’ evolution from loosely organized trafficking networks into transnational criminal insurgencies with intelligence-gathering capabilities.
“This isn’t just a smuggler’s operation with Wi-Fi; it’s organized crime graduating with honors from the School of Strategic Surveillance,” Tsukerman told ClearanceJobs. “The use of drones allows these groups to not only outmaneuver border security but also exploit blind spots in real time, turning tactical gaps into permanent vulnerabilities.”
Lawmakers Express Concerns
It was last month that Congressional lawmakers – including Representatives John J. McGuire III, Juan Ciscomani, Derek Schmidt, Mike Kennedy, MD, and Jeff Crank – drafted a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and Acting Administrator Chris Rocheleau of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that warned that the drugs cartels could be “seeking new plans of attack,” which could include the use of drones.
The letter from March 18, 2025, followed a visit to the border by the five lawmakers, and it questioned what response, if any, there would be, while it highlighted the drone sightings last year over U.S. military bases in Virginia and New Jersey.
“During our time at the border, we heard firsthand from commanders and supervisors on the ground regarding their concern to be able to conduct c-UAS operations should the cartels attempt a drone attack on U.S. service members or federal law enforcement,” the letter read.
It further asked that the inter-agency respond to five questions within 30 days. That included:
- Which agency is primarily responsible for responding to UAS threats at the Southern Border?
- What steps are being taken to determine if a drone poses an immediate threat?
- What is the current definition of a threat towards the Southern Border mission? Would this include drones that are suspected of gathering intelligence?
- How quickly can a determination be made to take down a hostile drone if necessary?
- What equipment is currently in place at the border to perform c-UAS?
Taking the Drone Threat Seriously
There hasn’t been a formal response to the questions, but others could be asked, including the level of sophistication of the drones. However, as has been seen in the Middle East and Ukraine, it doesn’t take much to “weaponize” a commercial off-the-shelf UAS and make it a very deadly weapon.
Though it appears that the cartels are just monitoring the U.S. military and possibly trying to protect any smuggling routes, it wouldn’t be a major leap for the cartels to engage in a form of drone warfare.
“It shouldn’t be surprising that organizations that make profits in the billions of dollars can use drones that you and I can buy on Amazon to monitor their adversaries – other cartels, the Mexican police, or the U.S. military, for that matter,” said technology industry analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics.
“We know that they hire highly skilled individuals with flexible moral standards to do their bidding,” Entner told ClearanceJobs. “Arming these drones, as seen on TV shows like Lioness, is not hard and certainly within their capabilities.”
The Cartels – A Real Clear & Present Danger
The deployment of the drones highlights a more troubling and broader implication. If the cartels are using drones today, what can we expect them to employ tomorrow.
“Drones serve as the gateway drug to more advanced tools of asymmetrical warfare,” added Tsukerman. “Today it’s eyes in the sky; tomorrow it may be payloads, jammers, or AI-enhanced tracking. The cartels aren’t just adapting – they’re innovating faster than the policy frameworks meant to stop them.”
She told ClearanceJobs that worse still is the U.S. government’s lagging response.
“With inter-agency turf wars and politicized border debates dominating Washington, decisive action remains elusive,” Tsukerman continued. “While Washington debates fences, the enemy maps the floor plan. In short, this isn’t just a border security issue – it’s a national security test. A failure to adapt means surrendering the technological high ground to non-state actors who operate with impunity, creativity, and increasingly, intelligence capabilities that rival state entities.”
Moreover, the growing use of drones by Mexican cartels is not occurring in a vacuum. Tsukerman suggested it is part of a deliberate, well-resourced strategy that reflects the globalization of criminal innovation.
“Cartels are procuring these technologies through gray-market suppliers, online retailers, and even shell companies operating in jurisdictions with lax export controls. In many cases, they are customizing commercial off-the-shelf drones with high-resolution cameras, night vision, and encrypted communication systems,” Tsukerman noted. “This isn’t just DIY surveillance – it’s a form of low-cost, high-efficiency reconnaissance that increasingly mirrors military-grade operations.”
The danger is that the cartels aren’t just watching the U.S. military presence but are likely reverse-engineering the battlefield in real time.
“Their use of drones marks a critical leap forward in asymmetrical warfare, allowing non-state actors to gather intelligence, evade detection, and plan operations with a level of precision once reserved for state militaries,” Tsukerman warned. “This evolution poses an unsettling question: If cartels can field airborne ISR capabilities today, what stops them from deploying drone swarms, chemical payloads, or cyber-enhanced sabotage tomorrow?”
Any answer may lie in strategic foresight or the lack thereof, she admitted.
“The U.S. must stop viewing cartels purely through the lens of law enforcement and start treating them as hybrid threats: agile, transnational, and technologically fluent. When criminal enterprises start playing by insurgent rules, governments that cling to bureaucracy are already two moves behind,” said Tsukerman. “Ultimately, the drone threat is a symptom of a deeper failure to adapt to 21st-century conflict, where the enemies don’t wear uniforms, and the battlefield is everywhere.”
