It's Wednesday, the 11th of February. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, cartel drones breach U.S. airspace, triggering an emergency shutdown of a major American airport and forcing the Pentagon to step in. I'll have the details. Later in the show, a new report says the White House is considering seizing Iranian oil tankers at sea. We'll look at what the administration may be planning and the risks that come with it. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. Commercial airliners were preparing to depart a major American airport, and abruptly, the federal government declared the skies off limits. Late last night, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, issued an emergency temporary flight restriction over El Paso International Airport and nearby Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The order grounded all flights, commercial, cargo, and private aviation, inside roughly a 10 nautical mile radius. The restriction was initially set to remain in place for 10 days. For reference, El Paso is America's 23rd largest city. At first, the agency simply cited, quote, security reasons for the flight ban, but didn't elaborate. Federal officials later revealed that the grounding was due to drones believed to be operated by Mexican cartels breaching U.S. airspace near the border. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy later confirmed the security threat, stating that the Department of Defense moved to disable the drones. Within hours, officials said the threat had been neutralized and the FAA rescinded the restriction early Wednesday morning. Flights resumed as normal. So let's back up and look at what we know. Cartels using drones is nothing new. They've been doing it for years, inside Mexico. They've used them to scout law enforcement movements, monitor smuggling corridors, and even drop explosives in cartel-on-cartel violence. In recent years, Border Patrol agents have reported frequent drone sightings near crossing points along the southern border. What we saw yesterday was different. This wasn't a drone hovering over a remote desert corridor. This was a breach serious enough to shut down a major American commercial airport and trigger Pentagon involvement. And it's worth noting, El Paso International Airport sits just minutes from Biggs Army Airfield at Fort Bliss, one of the Army's key installations in the region. Biggs supports military transport operations, air defense training, and rapid deployment forces. So when unidentified drones appear in that airspace, this isn't just about civilian flights, it's about proximity to active military infrastructure. The FAA's notice warned that aircraft violating the restricted airspace could face enforcement action, including the potential use of deadly force. Now, El Paso sits directly across from Ciudad Juarez, one of the most active cartel operating environments in the hemisphere. The region is a major corridor for narcotics trafficking, human smuggling, and organized criminal activity. The cartels operating there become increasingly sophisticated using encrypted communications, surveillance technology, and now unmanned aerial systems as part of their overall toolkit. The question is how far they willing to push them and how prepared the U is to respond when those systems encroach on civilian infrastructure Officials have emphasized that there is no ongoing threat to commercial aviation and that the drones were neutralized But the fact remains. A foreign criminal organization's aerial assets triggered a shutdown of American airspace. Airspace over the U.S., by the way, is among the most tightly regulated and defended domains in the world. Now, ultimately, this incident only lasted a few hours. The consequences were limited, but the implications are larger. Cartels are no longer confined to tunnels and pickup trucks. They're evolving, adapting, probing. And this week, that probe reached the skies over a U.S. airport. It was cartel drones in American airspace, which begs the question, will this breach change the way that U.S. government and military deal with Mexican cartels? Will the standard approach, meaning liaison operations with Mexican military law enforcement, be sufficient going forward? Or could this lead to unilateral operations by the U.S. military inside Mexico to proactively strike at cartel personnel and infrastructure? Coming up next, Washington may be preparing to seize Iranian oil tankers at sea. We'll examine what's being considered. More on that when we come back. Hey, Mike Baker here. 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Jordan sits down with people who've been in the room at the highest levels, from national security leaders to thinkers reshaping how we understand the world. You'll hear ideas and stories that go way beyond the usual soundbites. Two episodes I'd recommend, an interview with our friend Ryan McBeth on Venezuela's collapse. That's a clear look at how a once wealthy oil state unraveled and what that means, of course, for regional stability, and also his conversation with Douglas Murray, where they explore the pressures facing Western democracies and what those trends mean for long-term stability. Download the Jordan Harbinger Show, that's H-A-R-B-I-N-G-E-R, just like it sounds, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows. Or just go to jordanharbinger.com slash start to dive right in. It's one of those podcasts that makes you smarter, so give it a go. Welcome back to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. According to new reporting from the Wall Street Journal, the White House is weighing a new tactic against the Iranian regime. U.S. officials are actively discussing the possibility of seizing additional tankers carrying Iranian oil, expanding a strategy that the administration has already used against Venezuela and Russia's so-called shadow fleets. If implemented, the move would target vessels transporting sanctioned Iranian crude, many of which, of course, operate under false flags and shell companies and disabled transponders in order to conceal their origin. More than 20 ships tied to Iranian petroleum exports have already been sanctioned this year, laying legal groundwork for potential interdictions. The goal would be straightforward. Squeeze Tehran's primary source of revenue and increase pressure as nuclear negotiations remain unresolved. But this isn't the Caribbean, and more importantly, Iran isn't Venezuela. Iran's oil moves to one of the most volatile maritime choke points in the world, the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly a quarter of global petroleum supply transits. And U.S. officials, speaking to the Wall Street Journal, acknowledge that the risks are substantial. The Iranian regime has a long history of retaliating at sea. Iranian forces have previously seized commercial tankers, harassed shipping with fast boats and drones, and threatened to mine the strait. And as we reported last week, a U.S. flag tanker was approached and challenged by Iranian gunboats in the strait. The vessels attempted to stop the ship, ordering it to slow down and prepare to be boarded, before it was escorted safely by U.S. naval forces. At nearly the same time, a U.S. military fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that aggressively approached the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier. Any move by Washington to begin boarding Iranian-linked vessels, well, could trigger immediate countermeasures, potentially against ships carrying oil from U.S. allies. And that's not just a regional problem, of course, it's a global energy supply issue. Oil markets have already reacted to reports of expanded enforcement discussions, a sharp disruption in Hormuz could send prices higher, creating economic and political consequences well beyond the Gulf Now as we been reporting the U already has significant assets in place in the region The USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is operating near Oman Guided missile destroyers are positioned in surrounding waters. And the U.S. Coast Guard maintains a presence in Bahrain, the service that could take the lead on any sanctions-based boarding operations. But operationally, of course, it would not be simple. Seizing a tanker in international waters requires boarding teams, escort vessels, and a destination willing to store the confiscated crew. It means diverting ships and committing manpower and accepting the possibility that Iranian naval units or Revolutionary Guard fastboats may respond in real time. It's essentially a maritime confrontation waiting to happen. And officials appear divided on the strategy. Some see maritime interdictions as a way to weaken the regime economically without striking Iranian territory. Others fear it could spark the very escalation that Washington appears trying to avoid. Now, the administration has already demonstrated a willingness to pursue sanctioned vessels around the globe as part of its Venezuela pressure campaign. Extending that playbook to Iran would signal a more aggressive phase of sanctions enforcement, one that carries significantly higher stakes. At the same time, nuclear negotiations remain fragile. Tehran has expressed openness to discussions, but what it's offered so far is very limited in scope. Targeting tankers could tighten the economic screws, but it also places U.S. forces in closer proximity to Iranian naval units and raises the possibility, of course, of a direct confrontation. For now, according to the Wall Street Journal, no final decision has been made. And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Wednesday, the 11th of February. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com. And of course, to listen to the show ad free, well, you can do that. And it is very simple. Just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Hey, Mike Baker here with a message for all you folks out there that work hard and need your workwear to be tough and durable and comfortable. That's important, too. 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