The state of Florida appears to need a very small fraction of the level of military support generated for Hurricane Katrina, although the Pentagon geared up numerous forces for a quick response. So far, the Air National Guard has airlifted hospital patients from the Florida Keys and has provided communications teams, whose primary benefit to state and local responders has been to enable disparate communications equipment to communicate.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.