US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said Washington is preparing to take its military campaign against drug-trafficking organisations onto land in Latin America, marking a potential expansion of operations that have already included deadly strikes on suspected smuggling boats.

Speaking at a jungle warfare training facility in Panama on Thursday, Hegseth said the United States was working with Colombia, Ecuador and other regional partners to develop operations against organisations Washington has designated as terrorist groups.

“Anywhere you traffic drugs, where you threaten the American people or our partners, you are a target, just like ISIS or al-Qaida,” Hegseth said, according to an official Pentagon transcript.

Asked what results he wanted from cooperation with countries including Colombia, Hegseth pointed to the military's strikes on suspected drug vessels and said Washington wanted the “same effect on land”.

“We're working with Ecuador, we're working with Colombia, we're working with partners to bring the fight to the DTOs on land,” he said, referring to designated terrorist organisations.

Hegseth said the US military intended to apply techniques developed during decades of counter-terrorism operations to trafficking networks in the Western Hemisphere.

“We spent 25 years refining the kill chain on how to diagnose and target networks halfway around the world,” he said. “How about we take those skill sets with the best Americans and apply it here?”

The Trump administration began carrying out military strikes on vessels it said were transporting narcotics in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific in September 2025. More than 200 people have been killed in those operations, according to Reuters. Separate reporting in June put the toll at 215 people across 66 strikes.

The administration describes the targets as “narco-terrorists”, but its use of lethal military force against suspected traffickers has faced legal scrutiny. Critics, including international law experts and human rights advocates, have argued that some strikes could amount to unlawful or extrajudicial killings.

Hegseth has rejected those criticisms and maintained that US operations are lawful. At a meeting of the Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition in Panama City on Wednesday, he also urged participating countries to reject the authority of the International Criminal Court.

The prospect of land operations has become more concrete following a political change in Colombia.

Hegseth said the newly inaugurated government of President Abelardo de la Espriella had requested US participation in joint military operations against what the administration calls “narco-terrorism”. Colombia also became the 19th member of the US-led counter-cartel coalition.

Asked directly on Thursday whether the United States was prepared to strike remnants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the National Liberation Army, known as the ELN, in coordination with Bogotá, Hegseth replied: “Yes.”

“Designated terrorist organisations with partner governments will be legitimate targets of the United States government,” he added.

Reuters reported a day earlier that Hegseth had discussed possible joint strikes against Colombian armed groups. Colombia's new defence minister, Jorge Eduardo Mora, said his country could play a central role in confronting trafficking networks on both its Pacific and Caribbean coasts.

The US campaign, known as Operation Southern Spear, is officially intended to disrupt narcotics flows from organisations Washington has designated as terrorist groups in the Western Hemisphere, according to a Pentagon inspector general report to Congress covering April through June.

Hegseth made his latest comments during PANAMAX, a multinational military exercise in Panama. He said the US Southern and Northern Commands were being given greater authority to pursue trafficking networks across the region.

He did not identify specific locations, dates or targets for future land operations.