Hegseth Says Military Has Every Authorization Needed for Strikes on Drug Boats

War Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Oct. 5 that the U.S. military has every authorization to carry out strikes against boats carrying narcotics off the coast of Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea, after another strike on a drug cartel vessel late last week.

“We have every authorization needed. These are designated as foreign terrorist organizations,” Hegseth said in an interview on Fox News.

“If you’re in our hemisphere, if you’re in the Caribbean, if you’re north of Venezuela and you want to traffic drugs to the United States, you are a legitimate target of the United States military.”

On Oct. 3, the U.S. military carried out an airstrike against a boat it said was carrying drugs to the United States, killing four on board, Hegseth announced on social media. It was at least the fourth known U.S. strike in the Caribbean Sea since the start of September that targeted a drug boat.

The Pentagon chief said that U.S. intelligence had confirmed “without a doubt” that the vessel “was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route.”

Hegseth did not say which terrorist organization was involved with the boat that was struck, and other details about the strike were not disclosed.

Trump recently declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and stated that the United States is currently engaged in an “armed conflict” with those cartels, according to a memo to Congress.

“Although friendly foreign nations have made significant efforts to combat these organizations, suffering significant losses of life, these groups are now transnational and conduct ongoing attacks throughout the Western Hemisphere as organized cartels,” said a report that was obtained by The Epoch Times on Oct. 2.

The administration also has “determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States,” according to the memo, which was undated.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration designated major Mexican drug cartels, Venezuelan transnational gang Tren de Aragua, and El Salvadorean transnational gang MS-13 as foreign terrorist organizations. Several other groups, including two Haitian gangs, have also been declared as foreign terrorist organizations this year.

Some Democratic senators, who have been critical of the military strikes on drug boats, introduced a measure under the War Powers Act that would prohibit using the U.S. military against nonstate groups involved in drug trafficking, unless Congress authorizes it.

“Drug cartels must be stopped, but declaring war & ordering lethal military force without Congress or public knowledge—nor legal justification—is unacceptable,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, wrote on X last week.

A local leader of Tren de Aragua was arrested in Mexico City, officials announced on Oct. 5. The leader was named as the “principal operator” of the Venezuelan gang in Mexico and was linked to a number of criminal activities including human trafficking, drug trafficking, homicide, kidnapping, and extortion, they said.

Reuters contributed to this report.