1:53A screenshot from footage shared on social media by President Donald Trump, Sept. 15, 2025, depicting what he described as a U.S. armed forces attack on a vessel purportedly transporting narcotics from Venezuela.Donald J. Trump/Truth Social
President Donald Trump has concluded that the United States is currently involved in a formal "military engagement" with narcotics organizations, which the administration has identified as "unlawful belligerents," as per a private memorandum acquired by ABC News Thursday.
It arises following recent U.S. attacks on maritime vessels in the Caribbean.
The notification was delivered to multiple congressional panels and was initially documented by The New York Times.
President Donald Trump responds to inquiries as pediatric cancer survivors and their families convene in the Oval Office at the White House, September 30, 2025 in Washington.Nathan Howard/Reuters
The dispatch to Congress is subsequent to the U.S. military executing three lethal assaults last month on suspected drug-running vessels in the Caribbean. Two of these engagements were conducted on boats that authorities have stated originated from Venezuela.
Independent legal analysts have cast doubt on Trump’s contention that drug organizations should be considered in the same vein as military fighters as opposed to offenders, a domain that has traditionally been overseen by law enforcement agencies and legally entails protections afforded by due process. A Capitol Hill staffer indicated that lawmakers are interpreting the notice as the administration "basically initiating a clandestine war against hidden adversaries, absent congressional authorization."
A screenshot from footage shared on social media by President Donald Trump, Sept. 15, 2025, depicting what he described as a U.S. armed forces attack on a vessel purportedly transporting narcotics from Venezuela.Donald J. Trump/Truth Social
In an affirmation to ABC News, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly remarked that Trump is upholding his commitment to confront drug organizations.
“As we have conveyed numerous times, the President acted in accordance with the laws governing armed conflict to defend our nation from those attempting to introduce deadly toxins to our shores, and he is fulfilling his pledge to combat the organizations and eliminate these risks to national security from murdering more Americans," Kelly stated.
The communiqué issued to Congress seemingly aims to clarify the United States' justification for engaging multiple maritime vessels in recent weeks, resulting in several fatalities among presumed narcotics traffickers. The memorandum specifies that Trump has "ascertained" that cartels participating in narcotics smuggling are "nonstate armed factions" whose activities "constitute an armed assault against the United States."
"Based on the aggregate effects of these aggressive actions toward the citizens and interests of the United States and allied foreign nations, the president has concluded that the United States is in a noninternational armed altercation with these designated terrorist groups," the notice declared.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens during a meeting between President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Oval Office of the White House, Sept. 25, 2025, in Washington.Evan Vucci/AP
"Interception is ineffective," Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented last month when questioned about the legal mandate the U.S. was utilizing to defend attacking the vessels in international waters. "What will deter them is when you eradicate them, when you eliminate them."
The military interventions on minor vessels off the coast of Venezuela in recent times appeared to be an unparalleled deployment of lethal military capability against a criminal enterprise. Historically, the U.S. government has depended on the U.S. Coast Guard and law enforcement individuals to board vessels for scrutiny.
The notice to Congress refers to a statute necessitating disclosure to Congress concerning hostilities involving U.S. armed forces. The memo expresses that the U.S. has arrived at a "pivotal juncture" where it must employ force in self-preservation and safeguarding of others against persistent assaults by designated foreign terrorist entities.
The memo does not precisely identify any individual foreign terrorist entity. Trump has priorly maintained that the boats targeted by the U.S. military of late were conveying substantial volumes of narcotics and were operated by associates of the South American syndicate Tren de Aragua.
The memo highlights a Sept. 15 occurrence in which three individuals were killed on an alleged Venezualan boat and affirms that the U.S. actions were in accordance with the laws governing armed conflict when it struck the vessel.
"The U.S. intelligence community assessed the vessel to be linked with a designated terrorist faction and, at that time, engaged in trafficking prohibited narcotics, which could ultimately be utilized to kill Americans," as per the memo, which proceeds to assert that even though the intervention was restricted in scope, U.S. forces remain prepared to perpetuate military activities "as deemed necessary" to avert further deaths or injury to Americans by neutralizing the threat "presented by these designated terrorist factions."
The uncommon U.S. military ventures signify a significant escalation in the Trump administration's endeavor to curtail the illicit flow of narcotics into the U.S. from Latin America.
U.S. functionaries have traditionally contended that Venezuelan cocaine shipments contribute to overdose deaths in the U.S. — and they accuse the country's chief, Nicolas Maduro, of enabling drug trafficking, an allegation he refutes. The Trump administration has levied a $50 million reward for his capture.
Members of the Trump administration have asserted that designating drug organizations as foreign terrorist entities provides the executive arm the proficiency to pursue criminal enterprises with the might of the U.S. military.
"It affords us legal authority to target them in manners unachievable if they're solely a collection of offenders. It ceases to be solely a law enforcement concern. It evolves into a national security predicament," Rubio conveyed in an interview last month.
However, certain specialists propose that the designation is legally ambiguous. The Foreign Terrorist Organization categorization does not commonly constitute an authorization to employ deadly force and is principally an instrument to constrain financial and material facilitation to terrorist organizations.
Democrats on Capitol Hill were caught unawares by the notification, which emerges after weeks of legislators urging the administration to pursue appropriate war powers authorization for such interventions.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
