>“[SECAF Kendall] basically made clear that DoD business is not, in essence, domestic drug issues even though DoD is one of the primary people responsible,” Kinzinger said about the meeting.

The DoD being one of the "primary people responsible" for counter-narcotic operations is a self-perpetuating mission requirement. The DoD is responsible for military operations, not law enforcement and counternarcotics. Counternarcotic and border control support was an opportunistic mission - a way to make better use of sorties that would've otherwise just been empty training flights. The RC-26's original, tactical mission has been supplanted by objectively better platforms, both manned and unmanned - and the "side bonus" of counternarcotics can't itself justify the airframe's continued use.

It's like planning a road trip to some big destination and planning to stop for coffee along the way - then deciding not to go to the destination, but still driving out to the "on the way" coffee place hundreds of miles away.