The U.S. military says it conducted strikes on three boats accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on December 15, 2025, killing eight people it described as members of designated terrorist organizations. The operation, part of a broader Trump administration campaign against drug cartels, has intensified concerns in Congress over transparency and the legal basis for the use of force.
The Pentagon said that on December 15, 2025, U.S. forces under U.S. Southern Command carried out lethal strikes on three small vessels in international waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean, in an area the military described as a known narco-trafficking route. In a statement posted on social media and cited by NPR and the Associated Press, the military said the boats were operated by what it called "designated terrorist organizations." It reported that three people were killed on the first vessel, two on the second and three on the third, for a total of eight dead.
According to NPR's reporting of the military statement, the U.S. did not release evidence that the boats were carrying drugs but did post a short video clip showing a boat moving through the water before it explodes. The U.S. military has referred to those killed in similar operations as suspected drug smugglers or alleged narco-terrorists, but independent verification of their identities and affiliations has not been made public.
The latest strikes are part of a months-long campaign of U.S. attacks on alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific that began in early September 2025. NPR, summarizing Pentagon figures, reports that at least 95 people have been killed in 25 known strikes over that period, including a controversial follow-up strike that killed two survivors clinging to wreckage from a previous attack on a suspected smuggling boat.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly defended the maritime campaign as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the United States. He has asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels, language echoed in administration messaging but not yet tested in U.S. courts. The administration has described some of the targeted groups as designated terrorist organizations, and conservative outlets including The Daily Wire have referred to those killed as "narco-terrorists."
The operations have added to pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who faces U.S. narcoterrorism charges in separate Justice Department cases. As NPR notes, the campaign has coincided with a broader buildup of U.S. military forces in the region and with stepped-up economic pressure on Venezuela. Last week, according to NPR's account of U.S. statements, U.S. forces seized a sanctioned Venezuelan oil tanker that Washington accuses of smuggling illicit crude. Maduro has alleged that the boat strikes and related actions are intended to force him from power, a claim U.S. officials have not accepted.
NPR and the Associated Press report that the United States has assembled its largest regional military presence in decades, conducting repeated strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in both the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. Trump has publicly hinted that land-based attacks could follow, but he has not provided details on possible locations or timing.
The latest boat strikes came on the eve of classified briefings on Capitol Hill for all members of Congress. NPR reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior national security officials are scheduled to brief lawmakers in the House and Senate on December 16. Democrats have pressed the administration to provide more evidence to justify the strikes and to explain the legal framework underpinning what the president has called an armed conflict with drug cartels.
Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators have largely defended the campaign. The Daily Wire quoted Republican Sen. Tom Cotton as saying the United States is targeting "narco-terrorists" and members of "Foreign Designated Terrorist Organizations" responsible for bringing drugs to American communities, and expressing hope that the strikes will continue. Independent legal experts and some members of Congress, however, have raised questions about whether the series of attacks complies with the law of armed conflict and with U.S. domestic law.
In response to concerns over transparency, Congress recently moved to tie a portion of the Pentagon leadership's travel budget to improvements in disclosure around the maritime strikes. The Daily Wire reports that the latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act includes a provision pressuring Hegseth to release additional strike footage and documentation, underscoring tensions between lawmakers and the Trump administration over how much the public should be allowed to see of the ongoing military campaign.
