White House blew past legal concerns in deadly strikes on drug boats

Source: Washington Post

Updated November 22, 2025 at 11:10 a.m. EST


President Donald Trump and his top White House aides pushed for lethal strikes on Western Hemisphere drug traffickers almost as soon as they took office in January, and in the past 10 months have repeatedly steamrolled or sidestepped government lawyers who questioned whether the provocative policy was legal, according to multiple current and former officials familiar with the debates.

As Trump weighs what could be imminent military action against Venezuela and its leader, Nicolás Maduro, while striking at alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, new details are emerging about the evolution of a strategy that involves unprecedented U.S. military force against the narcotics trade — and, critics say, outsize legal risk.

The deadly attacks on small boats are being carried out by the Pentagon, which at Trump’s orders has amassed a vast array of warships, aircraft and troops in the region, including the largest U.S. aircraft carrier. But early on, according to two people familiar with the matter, the administration proposed having the CIA use its unique covert authorities to conduct the lethal strikes on drug traffickers that Trump and Stephen Miller, his powerful homeland security adviser, wanted.

The spy agency, under Director John Ratcliffe, was rapidly ramping up its counternarcotics arm, consciously modeling the effort to mirror the post-9/11 U.S. war against terrorists. White House officials initiated proposals that envisioned the CIA taking the lead, and work began on drafting a presidential authorization for covert action, known as a “finding.” Lawyers at the spy agency and elsewhere in the government were skeptical.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/11/22/drug-boats-strikes-cia-legal-concerns/