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Briefing|Psychological Warfare in Venezuela
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/briefing/psychological-warfare-in-venezuela.html
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There were two remarkable parts to what President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office this week about Venezuela: what he said, and what he didn’t say.
The president confirmed a New York Times scoop, published a few hours earlier by my colleagues Julian Barnes and Tyler Pager, that he had secretly authorized the C.I.A. to conduct covert action inside the country, part of a U.S. campaign against Nicolás Maduro, the authoritarian leader who clings to power there.
That was a remarkable statement because presidents don’t acknowledge directives that allow spies to accomplish a secret mission. The whole idea of having a C.I.A. is to allow the United States to operate in the shadows and conduct “deniable” operations. The normal answer to questions about such authorizations, used by almost all of the presidents since World War II, is something along the lines of I don’t know what you are talking about, but if I did, I couldn’t comment.
But in this case, commenting may have been the point. Privately, Trump administration officials have said they want to drive Maduro from power. In that context, the warships massing off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, the 10,000 troops poised nearby and the bombing of boats allegedly filled with “narcoterrorists” are efforts at psychological warfare. Trump hopes to scare Maduro into exile. Trump added to the pressure on Wednesday when he said the next step might be a land attack.
The rationales
Which takes us to the second point: what Trump has never talked about. He has declined to explain, to Americans or even to many in Congress, what exactly he is trying to accomplish. What interests are being served here? How is this “America First”?
Stopping the flow of cocaine? Well, that makes sense, but in that case the Navy is on the wrong coast: Drugs headed to the United States largely come from the Pacific Coast, not the Caribbean, where the naval buildup is happening. Access to oil? That is what Maduro’s government claims this is all about. But there are ways of negotiating over oil short of military or covert action, and Trump cut off those talks weeks ago.
