Former military lawyers are speaking out against President Donald Trump’s recent attacks on boats that were said to be carrying drugs from Venezuela. The strikes have killed at least 17 people across three different incidents in the Caribbean since early September. Trump has called those killed “narcoterrorists” and said they were bringing illegal drugs toward the United States.
The strikes show a big change from how the U.S. has dealt with drug boats at sea for many years. Instead of stopping and searching boats they think have drugs, military forces have been told to blow them up completely. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said more attacks could happen, warning drug cartels the U.S. would “track them, kill them, and dismantle their networks throughout our hemisphere.”
“Summary actions using deadly force cannot be undone,” wrote members of the Former JAGS Working Group in their review of the strikes. According to The Hill, the group is made up of retired military lawyers who used to serve as Judge Advocate Generals. They warned that Trump’s way of doing things breaks both U.S. and world laws. They pointed out that the traditional drug war at sea has always followed strict legal rules, needing permission from flag states and limiting the use of force according to Tennessee v. Garner standards.
Legal experts question Trump’s right to use deadly force
Legal experts from different political sides have asked whether Trump has the right to order these deadly strikes. Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer who served for over 23 years, said the attacks have no legal basis. “Under international law, there’s no way this even gets close to being a legitimate use of force,” Huntley told reporters.
The Trump administration has given several reasons for the attacks. Officials say the strikes were done in self-defense and that the targeted boats belonged to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang the U.S. has called a terrorist group. In a letter to Congress, Trump said he was using his constitutional power as commander in chief. The growing tensions have led to a tense military standoff after Trump’s strikes on civilian boats, with Venezuelan military aircraft flying near U.S. Navy ships.
“If I were a fisherman I wouldn’t want to go fishing”
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) September 16, 2025
Trump admits his blowing up boats in international waters based on (thin) claims of drug smuggling is hurting the fishing industry and clearing the ocean of boats pic.twitter.com/N8ytvnp2PB
However, legal experts say these reasons are not good enough. Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer, noted that simply calling a group terrorists does not give the president the right to use military force against them. “What is conspicuously absent is any attempt at a legal justification for the premeditated killing of people,” Finucane said.
Republican Senator Rand Paul has also criticized the strikes, calling them a violation of due process. “We can’t just want to kill people without having some kind of process,” Paul said. He revealed that the attacks were carried out using drones, information the Pentagon had refused to confirm.
The strikes may have broken the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally stops the military from doing law enforcement work. Usually, the Coast Guard handles drug catching at sea, but reports suggest Coast Guard units were not part of these operations. This raises questions about whether the military was wrongly used for law enforcement purposes without proper legal authority. Meanwhile, concerns are growing about Trump’s controversial Pentagon leadership amid ongoing questions about military oversight and decision-making processes.
