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The Trump administration is doubling down on its controversial use of military force against alleged drug traffickers at sea. On Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that a U.S. military strike killed four male narcoterrorists aboard a speedboat in international waters off the coast of Venezuela. 

It marks the fourth such strike this month, raising questions from lawmakers and legal experts about the legality of targeting criminal networks with military assets.

A Boat “Loaded with Death”

Hegseth released a statement and video footage of the attack, which showed a small vessel being hit by a precision strike. He described the operation as necessary to protect the American people.

“The strike was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics — headed to America to poison our people,” Hegseth said in an X post.

President Donald Trump also shared the video, declaring:

“A boat loaded with enough drugs to kill 25 TO 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE was stopped, early this morning off the Coast of Venezuela, from entering American Territory.”

Hegseth emphasized that no U.S. forces were harmed in the operation.

A Pattern of Narcoterrorists Strikes

This is the fourth military strike against suspected traffickers in Venezuelan waters:

• September 2 – A strike killed 11, with Trump claiming they were members of Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan gang.
• September 15 – Another speedboat was targeted, resulting in multiple deaths.
• September 19 – A third strike destroyed a suspected drug-running vessel.
• September 27 – The most recent attack killed four, with officials labeling them as narcoterrorists.

Vice President J.D. Vance even joked, “I wouldn’t go fishing right now,” acknowledging the heightened military presence in the Caribbean.

Legal Debate Over Wartime Definitions

Critics argue the administration is stretching wartime definitions to justify these operations. U.S. officials told Congress they consider the country to be in “armed conflict” with drug cartels, treating smugglers as “unlawful combatants.” This controversial classification was also used during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

One official told ABC News that lawmakers see this as the administration “essentially waging a secret war against secret enemies, without the consent of Congress.”

Legal scholars warn that conflating drug trafficking with terrorism sets a dangerous precedent. As one expert put it, “Putting drug runners in the same camp as al-Qaida fighters is a leap that has never been made in U.S. law.”