By SUZANNE DOWNING
A major escalation in President Donald Trump’s crackdown on international drug trafficking is now intersecting directly with Alaska, following a warning letter sent by Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox to Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci.
The letter comes amid an aggressive federal campaign against narcotics trafficking in the Gulf of America that the Trump administration has framed not as a public health issue alone, but as a national security threat.
The Trump administration formally designated fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction,” pairing the declaration with a sweeping executive order authorizing sentencing enhancements, financial penalties, and the use of military resources to disrupt trafficking networks.
It is with that as a backdrop that Cox sent his letter to Minicucci. The Alaska Story has obtained a copy of that letter:
In the letter, Cox warned that Alaska’s geographic isolation and transportation realities make it uniquely vulnerable to drug trafficking. Nearly all illicit drugs consumed in Alaska are imported from outside the state, creating a price premium that attracts organized trafficking networks.
“Alaska is facing an unprecedented public safety and public health crisis driven by the illegal distribution of controlled substances,” Cox wrote. He cited the Alaska Department of Public Safety’s 2024 Annual Drug Report, noting overdose deaths rose from 121 in 2015 to 339 in 2024, an increase of roughly 180%. Many of the deaths involved fentanyl and methamphetamine, often in combination, and disproportionately affected Alaska Native communities.
Attorney General Cox also raised concerns about Alaska Airlines’ internal policies regarding employee interaction with law enforcement. According to the letter, signage displayed to employees reportedly instructs them: “If a law enforcement officer or government official asks you for guest information, stop, don’t comply.”
Cox said law enforcement partners have advised him that Alaska Airlines policies actively discourage cooperation outside formal legal processes and that employees who voluntarily provide useful tips to authorities may face professional consequences if their cooperation is discovered.
“I am further advised that employees who do provide tips or information to law enforcement that prove useful in disrupting drug trafficking do so at personal and professional risk, including the possibility of discipline or termination,” Cox wrote.
Alaska Airlines, headquartered in Seattle but bearing the state’s name and serving as one of Alaska’s primary transportation lifelines, occupies a critical role in the movement of people and cargo into and out of the state. That role, Cox argued, carries responsibility at a time when fentanyl has become a leading cause of death.
Cox concluded the letter by inviting Minicucci and his team to meet with state officials to discuss the airline’s policies and explore ways the company and the state can work together, consistent with the law, to reduce the flow of illegal drugs into Alaska.
The Trump Administration has made clear that drug trafficking will be treated as an active, terroristic threat to American lives. Military strikes abroad and enhanced penalties at home signal what officials describe as the end of soft-on-crime approaches.
Cox’s letter places Alaska squarely within a national enforcement strategy, and puts renewed scrutiny on institutions that sit along the drug trafficking supply chain.
As the administration has declared fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction, Cox’s warning suggests that neutrality or procedural distance may no longer be acceptable when the toll includes hundreds of Alaskan lives.
24 thoughts on “Alaska’s AG warns Alaska Airlines over drug trafficking, company advice to employees to ‘not comply’”
If I flew alcohol into a dry village, I get arrested, and my plane will get impounded. Could the same be true if Alaska Airlines flies drugs into our state?
It should be.
“Seattle Airlines” could care less about the region they profit the most from. All the cash they collect from the checks received from Alaskan residents including village corps. regional corps. as well as state pfd checks…remember when they offered four roundtrip tickets in exchange for your pfd check that expired after a year if unused so you could trade next years check for four more. They could care less about the family members suffering from the effects of the deadly drugs their own fleet delivers to a state they have no interest in and dont give a rats a$$ other than the fat cash cow they reap profits from. Everyone in my family still remembers the sick and perverted “everyone say gay”chants from their warped employees dancing around the children dressed in drag in the terminal waiting areas. Shame on Minicucci and his team of misfit child pedophiles.
Alaska Airlines’ conduct and policies are disgusting and irrational. This is irresponsible behavior for a heavily-regulated transportation provider. Stockholders may have a cause of action for violation of the company’s fiduciary obligations. Worse yet, if Alaska Airlines wants to go down this road, perhaps the Feds should investigate the airline as a criminal enterprise. It might get really difficult for Alaska Airlines to have their international passengers clear customs in a timely manner. I could go on and on. I hope the Alaska Attorney General sent a copy of his letter to Homeland Security and the Justice Department.
According to more recent reporting, Alaska Airlines now claims that the printed notice was unauthorized. Take a look at the notice. To say that it was produced by some rogue employee is nonsense. Alaska Airlines got caught playing the “resistance” game. Seattle is a sick, twisted environment. The airline should “own it” and accept the consequences.
I faced the same situation when I was in the airline business years ago. The police would ask my employees to do what the police could not legally do themselves – search passengers bags without a search warrant. We didn’t do it and they similarly threatened us, even confiscating one of my planes (temporarily until I arrived back from a flight and educated them on the law).
I had written policy as Alaska Airlines has, that empoyees could not illegally search bags at police request without a warrant, after police started “bringing donuts” and trying to cozy up to cargo empoyees that would do their illegal searches.
Be careful what you support. It may sound good to stop drug traffickers extrajudicial, but it’s a slippery slope when you decide to let the police operate outside the constitution “in some cases”.
Illegal search and seizure is not what the Alaska AG is asking of them. Simple cooperation is all he was asking for of which they have no plans to do which is the same response to the Democrat run cities choice to not cooperate with ICE officers attempts to uphold the federal laws being violated in the “Blue Sanctuaries”
Art, in all of the years you operated as Warbelow Air, serving the bush communities out of Fairbanks, you mean to tell me you didn’t have booze destined for dry villages? The feds would have seized your planes and you would have been left to peddle your three-wheeled bike. Illegal drugs to the bush communities means higher Medicaid costs and more lives lost to murder, rape and suicide. Shame on you, Art.
The Right Wing used to attack the big hand of big government. Well, here it is and it is coming from the corrupt right wing Trump administration. If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to complain; just bend over.
Thats exactly why we elected Trump. Fools who think they can deliver illegal drugs to the US dont get to complain but they do get to bend over and kiss their a$$ goodby if they look up and see their termination gift before it strikes their drug boat and sends them to their “promised land”….(: (: (: Hunter Biden’s drug lords are slowly disappearing into the depths of the ocean.
To: Singh
Unfortunately, you like having illegal drugs in our beautiful state. I pray that your family is not effected by it.! Cause that is only when you would care!
There is a fundamental piece of evidence missing regarding the Venezuelan alleged “narco-terrorists”. It’s evidence that they are running drugs. Seems that would be crucial to a critical thinker in determining how to respond. You apparently think the weak and pathetic GI Joe Hegseth will tell you the truth. If so, you are gullible and a real asset to corruption by the Trump kleptocracy.
There is also a failure to recognize America’s military law. Some say the murder was an act of war, but no war has been authorized. All that’s left is it was and is an illegal act of murder and the blame is wholly owned by the podcaster with nuclear weapons. It does not matter if there were drugs on board. The right thing to do is what the USCG alway does: intervene and arrest. But that makes for boring TV and what the womanizing drunk in a uniform, wants most is attention.
After reading the letter, I looked at the whole format from top to bottom. There are no cc’s in the letter to inform Federal Aviation Administration the same information the public is aware of with this article. The copies should also go to the counsel’s office in Seattle and Oklahoma City and the FAA Administrator in Alaska. The State AG may not fully understand his responsibility of reporting such matters for the flying public and the fact that Alaska Airlines certification to fly these aircraft is in the law and orders and statutes of the USA DOT-FAA. Cox needs to go back to his letter and forward a copy to those offices. The State of Alaska does not have the authority to fully deal with those problems but can support the information and let FAA deal with Alaska Airlines and the problems they need to take care of.
Unfortunately, you like having illegal drugs in our beautiful state. I pray that your family is not effected by it.! Cause that is only when you would care!
nonsense and insulting.
Bending over is more your style
Fucking brilliant clarke.
I don’t want an airlines giving my information out to anyone just because they ask including to law enforcement. If they have a reason to need the information then they can tell a judge and get a warrant.
Alaska Air still awards me with free miles and donates whiskey to me for writing wonderful articles about life in Alaska. Without good drugs and booze flowing into the villages by air, Democrats would have to import Samalis to Alaska in order to affect election outcomes. 2026 is looking good, thanks to Alaska Airlines. And donations to me are always welcome.
Thanks Dermutt, for your 50 years of toxic and negative articles about Alaska politics. You are the Democrats poison of choice. When you retire, which should be very soon, we would gladly have a last lecture/article by you just before your next AA meeting. You have left your indelible mark in the hate column for the next generation of Alaskans. Rest well.
“Alaska Airlines, headquartered in Seattle but bearing the state’s name…” TRUE, unfortunately the leftist Seattle/Washington mindset of policies misrepresents our state’s name. Our State AG should seek to take them to court to force a name change to something else. No company should be allowed to use our state’s name to push destructive agenda that threatens the public health of our citizens.
I believe the idea is of “cultural misappropriation.”. If a person is totally “woke” and Leftist, this is very important. I suggest they go with “Totally Woke Airlines”. Folks would a clear idea of who they are and who they serve. This worked out well for Anheuser-Busch, Gillette, Target, Jaguar and Cracker Barrel.
The information AG Cox is demanding from Alaska Airlines violates the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution if it is demanded without probable cause or a court issued warrant. He certainly may ask for whatever information he likes, but Alaska Airlines may also refuse those “requests,” and they should. For government to demand any information without first having probable cause or a court issued warrant is a violation of federal law 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
It gets a lot more complicated when the business is operating in a highly regulated industry and facilitating inter and intra-state commerce on a large scale. A business that wants to remain in business should figure out a way to accommodate reasonable requests by law enforcement. Alaska Airlines needs a supportive law enforcement.