The Trump administration has determined the U.S. is in a "non-international armed conflict" with drug cartels it has designated as terrorist organizations, it said in a notification to Congress viewed by CBS News.

The administration delivered the notification after a mid-September strike on an alleged drug boat hailing from Venezuela. It was the second of three publicly disclosed U.S. attacks on boats in the southern Caribbean Sea last month.

The notice calls the three individuals killed by the Sept. 15 strike "unlawful combatants," which is the same term President George W. Bush's administration used to describe Al Qaeda and other terrorist networks. After the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, Congress authorized the use of military force against terrorist organizatio

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