The Dominican Republic hosted a meeting of the the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (A3C, Shield of the Americas) on Oct. 26-27, during which U.S. officials repeated claims that a further expansion of military operations against cartels was necessary, with countries reviewing a detailed military plan outlining a long-term strategy for coalition members' operations, though specifics were not published, The New York Times reported on Oct. 27. Eric J. Geressy, a senior adviser to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, called cartels "violent extremist organizations" and alleged that such groups were attempting to "paralyze our decision cycle" by financing nongovernmental organizations and filing "spurious human rights petitions."