Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has bylines in many publications, including The National Interest, The Jerusalem Post, and The Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin.

Three Navy destroyers will be deploying to the waters off Venezuela as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to combat illegal drug smuggling. In February, the State Department designated several cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and in recent weeks has reportedly given the U.

The United States is deploying three Navy destroyers to waters near Venezuela, escalating its confrontation with President Nicolás Maduro, whom Washington accuses of narco-terrorism and long-standing ties to Colombian militants.