两个月来，美国一直在加勒比海和太平洋通过炸沉它所说被用来走私毒品的船只来杀人；一些专家称这些袭击是非法的。英国已就该地区的毒品贩运暂停与美国的情报共享，这标志着一段已经繁荣超过80年的情报关系的破裂。11月11日，哥伦比亚也宣布将暂停情报共享。

英国长期在加勒比地区打击走私，其海外领地位于该海域：去年，护卫舰HMS Trent在该地区缴获了价值7.5亿英镑（9.8亿美元）的非法毒品。英国官员与南部联合跨机构特遣部队合作并分享信号情报（SIGINT），尽管部分情报被标注为“仅限英国”（UKEO）。有官员称走私情报“压倒性地由美国提供”，英国只是次要角色；历史上皇家海军会拦截并击伤船只，但从未考虑过将其击沉，官员称那是“明确非法”的。

情报中断对以美国情报主导的袭击可能只是小不便，但官员警告唐纳德·特朗普可能会愤怒地进行报复。他已清洗了两家机构的首脑——国家安全局和国防情报局——并解雇了调查其2016年与俄罗斯关系的官员。存在美国对等中断的真实风险；1970年代基辛格下令的卫星影像中断曾短暂发生，官员称英国比起对方更需要美国情报。

For two months the United States has been killing people in the Caribbean and the Pacific by blowing up boats it says are being used to smuggle drugs; some experts call the strikes illegal. Britain has suspended intelligence-sharing with the United States over drug-trafficking in the area, a rupture to an intelligence relationship that has thrived for more than 80 years. On November 11th Colombia also announced it would suspend intelligence-sharing.

Britain has long countered smuggling in the Caribbean, where its territories sit: last year HMS Trent seized £750m ($980m) of illegal drugs. British officials worked with Joint Interagency Task Force South and shared SIGINT, though some material is marked UKEO. Intelligence on smuggling was described as "overwhelmingly American" and Britain a minor role; historically the Royal Navy interdicted and disabled boats but never sank them, which officials called "flat-out illegal."

The cut-off is likely a minor inconvenience to US strikes given American intelligence dominance, but officials warn Donald Trump might retaliate angrily. He has purged the heads of two agencies—the NSA and the Defence Intelligence Agency—and dismissed officials probing his 2016 ties to Russia. There is a real risk of reciprocal American cut-offs; a 1970s Kissinger-ordered satellite-image suspension proved brief, and officials say Britain needs US intelligence more than the reverse.