Coast Guard’s Operation Pacific Viper is a crucial weapon in the fight against foreign drug traffickers, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said.
The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) has seized more than 469,000 pounds of cocaine under the Trump administration since Jan. 20, 2025, which is enough to kill up to 177 million Americans at a lethal dose of 1.2 grams, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a Dec. 31 post on X.
Multiple operations against drug trafficking have been launched by the USCG under the Trump administration. In early October, the Coast Guard launched Operation River Wall to secure and defend the roughly 260 miles of the Rio Grande River making up parts of the Southern border, aiming to “defeat illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and other threats to our communities,” USCG said in an Oct. 20 statement.
In August, the Coast Guard launched Operation Pacific Viper, which surges forces to the Eastern Pacific region with the aim of stopping criminal organizations and cartels, cutting off their human and drug smuggling efforts before these reach U.S. shores.
In a Dec. 9 statement, USCG said it had seized more than 150,000 pounds of cocaine through the operation, enough to create 57 million potentially lethal doses.
“Operation Pacific Viper has proven to be a crucial weapon in the fight against foreign drug traffickers and cartels in Latin America and has sent a clear message that we will disrupt, dismantle, and destroy their deadly business exploits wherever we find them,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said at the time.
“In cutting off the flow of these deadly drugs, the Coast Guard is saving countless American lives and delivering on President Trump’s promise to Make America Safe Again and reestablish our maritime dominance.”
According to the DHS, 80 percent of all narcotics bound for the United States are transported via the sea, highlighting the importance of maritime drug interdiction.
In its latest X post, DHS said that during Operation Pacific Viper, USCGC Stone, the biggest and most technologically advanced ship in the Coast Guard, offloaded roughly 49,010 pounds of illicit narcotics at Port Everglades, Florida, valued at more than $362 million.
This was the “largest amount of cocaine” seized by a single cutter vessel in one patrol in the history of the USCG, according to the department.
