Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new strike on an alleged drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean on Friday, killing four people.
“Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route. These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!” Hegseth posted on X with a video showing a boat blown up in a strike.
The strike was carried out in international waters off the coast of Venezuela, according to Hegseth.
The Trump administration has justified its military actions in the Western Hemisphere as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. Earlier this year, the president designated gangs, including Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations to combat the flow of drugs, which Hegseth wrote Friday are “headed to America to poison our people.”
Human rights groups, as well as members of Congress on both sides of the political aisle, have questioned the legality of the strikes.
Friday’s strike marked at least the fourth on vessels in U.S. Southern Command since Sept. 2.
President Donald Trump in a social media post on Sept. 19 said a U.S. strike killed three in a vessel “affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization conducting narcotrafficking.” He did not specify where in U.S. Southern Command the deadly strike had occurred.
Neither the military nor the White House has identified which U.S. military ships and assets have been used to carried out the strikes, a vast departure from the military’s previous transparency on strike operations, including transparency granted during the first Trump administration.
“We refer you to the White House,” a Navy spokesperson responded when asked whether any of their assets were used in the multiple Caribbean strikes.
“We are not authorized to respond to queries at this time due to the lapse in appropriations. … The COCOM [U.S. Southern Command] and OSW [Office of the Secretary of War] would be the only folks authorized to speak on this,” a Marine Corps spokesperson told Military Times. The Marine Corps also has forces in the Caribbean on Navy amphibious warfare ships.
The White House Press team, like the Marines Corps, pointed to the shutdown for its inability to respond to requests.
“Due to staff shortages resulting from the Democrat Shutdown, the typical 24/7 monitoring of this press inbox may experience delays. We ask for your patience as our staff work to field your requests in a timely manner. As you await a response, please remember this could have been avoided if the Democrats voted for the clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government open,” it responded to Military Times.
The defense secretary’s office has failed to provide information about which service branch carried out the strikes or what munitions were used in the attacks, even in questions asked before the shutdown.
The lack of details in this campaign mirrors how the Pentagon handled an extended bombing campaign against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in mid-March. Pentagon officials briefed reporters during the week that campaign began but would not comment on the number of strikes, targets or progress toward reopening shipping lanes in the weeks that followed, Defense News previously reported.
The refusal to provide basic details marked a break from the previous year of airstrikes against the Houthis, which U.S. Central Command would describe in public releases. The lack of details on recent strikes also marks a departure from the first Trump administration, during which officials provided details, including assets and locations, on U.S. strikes in Somalia, Iraq and Syria.
‘Non-international armed conflict’
“The President directed the Department of War to conduct operations against them pursuant to the law of armed conflict. The United States has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defense and defense of others against the ongoing attacks by these designated terrorist organizations,” the memo added.
A congressional staffer told Military Times on Thursday the memo was “definitely alarming.”
The staffer declined to comment further because they were not authorized to speak to the press.