Senator Tim Kaine, D-Va., has stated that U.S. military forces may have exceeded the parameters of President Donald Trump's orders concerning counternarcotics operations involving kinetic strikes against alleged drug-smuggling vessels. Kaine, a senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, expressed these concerns in a letter to the White House.
Kaine's review of classified information provided to Congress, including an "execute order" signed by President Trump detailing targeting criteria, suggests that the strikes initiated last September have likely resulted in the deaths of individuals not involved in narcotrafficking. The senator indicated that the military has struck and killed people who do not fit the established criteria for targeting.
"You selected numerous organizations for targeting," Kaine wrote in his letter, addressing President Trump. "That target list is classified so I cannot reveal it." He further noted that the classified nature of the list means targeted individuals are unaware they are designated for execution.
These strikes, part of an operation known as Operation Southern Spear, have reportedly led to the deaths of at least 218 people, according to an ABC News count. The Pentagon has allocated over $820 million to the campaign, as detailed in a recent inspector general report.
Despite Kaine's concerns, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has defended the military's actions, asserting their lawfulness under both domestic and international legal frameworks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also voiced support, stating at a Senate hearing in June that the Defense Department had determined the strikes' legality based on intelligence assessments.
President Trump has claimed on his social media platform that "98.2% of Drugs coming into the U.S. by Ocean or Sea have STOPPED!," a claim for which no evidence has been provided. Kaine's analysis of classified materials, including a Department of Justice legal memorandum, leads him to conclude that "the United States is engaged in violent and fatal attacks against people far beyond those whom the [legal] opinion claimed could be lawfully targeted." He argued that some of the identified targets may, in fact, be "murder victims."