President Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reported Tuesday on X (with video): “Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out three lethal kinetic strikes on four vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTO) trafficking narcotics in the Eastern Pacific.”
Note: The President ordered the first military strike on a speedboat which he said was carrying drugs to the U.S. in the Caribbean in September. The first strike reportedly killed 11 alleged Venezuelan gang members aboard, whom Trump called “terrorists.”
Such military attacks are a stark departure from traditional interdiction of ships suspected of smuggling drugs in international waters. In the past, U.S. authorities (from the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard) would board such boats/ships, seize the contraband, and identify suspects to build a criminal case.
Hegseth added: “The four vessels were known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and carrying narcotics. Eight male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessels during the first strike. Four male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the second strike. Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the third strike. A total of 14 narco-terrorists were killed during the three strikes, with one survivor. All strikes were in international waters with no U.S. forces harmed.”
Government officials who engage in unlawful acts often flaunt their actions because they can’t imagine being held accountable. They have their orders, they feel the rush of power, and the people around them applaud. They’re certain in the moment that what they’re doing is right. https://t.co/WJZqZZnB2v
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) October 28, 2025
Former Congressman Justin Amash (R-MI) responded to Hegseth’s post: “Government officials who engage in unlawful acts often flaunt their actions because they can’t imagine being held accountable. They have their orders, they feel the rush of power, and the people around them applaud. They’re certain in the moment that what they’re doing is right.”
Amash, who recently joined the Advisory Council of FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), added: “People routinely underestimate the likelihood that an apparatus of the state deployed ostensibly for the purpose of going after alleged terrorists and criminals will become a normal tool to be used against law-abiding citizens, including them and their family.”
[NOTE: Amash’s warning comes during a week when masked federal agents in Chicago have used tear gas eight times in three days, affecting U.S. citizens in numerous neighborhoods across the city.]
Like Amash, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, is also calling out Trump and Hegseth for the “unlawful acts.”
Rand Paul on Trump’s strikes on boats: “I would call them extrajudicial killings. This is akin to what China does, what Iran does with drug dealers — they summarily execute people without presenting evidence to the public. So it’s wrong.” pic.twitter.com/NPCIt9kzgT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 26, 2025
Paul said, “The reason we have trials and we don’t automatically assume guilt is, what if we make a mistake?” He added: “Off our coast, it isn’t our policy to just blow people up…Sometimes you have to figure out who people are before you kill them.”