The U.S. military has conducted another missile strike on a narcoterror vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing three suspected drug smugglers, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Saturday.
Hegseth said the strike was carried out “at the direction of President Trump,” describing it as part of a broader campaign to dismantle drug-linked militant networks operating across the region.
“Today, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) in the Caribbean,” Hegseth wrote on X.
“This vessel—like EVERY OTHER—was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics.”
“These narco-terrorists are bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans at home — and they will not succeed,” he continued.
Hegseth vowed that the U.S. military will give narcoterrorists the same treatment it did Al Qaeda:
“We will continue to track them, map them, hunt them, and kill them.”
Saturday’s operation marks the 15th known U.S. strike against narco-terrorist organizations in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since early September.
Defense officials say the ongoing campaign, which Hegseth has described as a “maritime offensive,” has now killed at least 64 people connected to cartel-linked operations.
Trump Defends Military Campaign Against Cartels
President Donald Trump has repeatedly defended the use of military force against drug cartels.
Trump notes that the strikes are a necessary step to stop the flood of narcotics entering the United States.
According to the White House, Trump views the cartels as transnational terrorist organizations operating under a framework similar to groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS.
Administration officials have cited the same post-9/11 authorization for the use of military force as the legal basis for targeting narco-terror groups abroad.
The administration has argued that cartels have evolved into armed, well-funded militias capable of destabilizing nations and directly threatening American security, warranting a more aggressive military response.
Democrats Demand Transparency on Legal Justifications
The strikes have drawn renewed scrutiny from Senate Democrats, who are demanding the Trump administration provide more details on its legal rationale and targeting procedures.
In a letter sent Friday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and War Secretary Hegseth, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and several senior Democrats, including Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), called on the administration to disclose all legal opinions related to the operations.
“We also request that you provide all legal opinions related to these strikes and a list of the groups or other entities the President has deemed targetable,” the senators wrote.
The letter accused the administration of selectively sharing information with certain lawmakers while leaving others uninformed, and urged the release of a full list of organizations designated as Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTOs) under the president’s directive.
Separately, the Senate Armed Services Committee’s bipartisan leadership released two previously undisclosed letters sent to Hegseth in late September and early October.
Those letters pressed the Pentagon to clarify the legal framework guiding the strikes and to identify which cartels had been formally classified as terrorist organizations.
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