‘JUDGE, JURY, AND EXECUTIONER’: House and Senate Democrats say briefings provided by the Trump administration to justify the lethal strikes on deadly boat strikes in the Caribbean and the Pacific have failed to answer basic questions of how the boats are confirmed to be carrying drugs or how the suspects are identified.
After Democratic senators were stiffed on Wednesday, when briefings and documents were shared only with a small group of Republicans, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) blasted the administration in a news conference. “That is not how the system is supposed to work. That is not how national security decisions are supposed to be made,” he said.
House members didn’t fare any better in a closed-door briefing yesterday led by Rear Adm. Brian Bennett, a military officer overseeing special operations Joint Staff. At the last minute, Pentagon lawyers were pulled from the briefing, leaving no one able to answer the key legal questions. “They just said that they can’t answer these questions because the lawyers aren’t here,” said Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA). “Am I leaving satisfied? Absolutely not.”
“I sit on the Armed Services and the Intelligence Committee. Our job is to oversee the use of lethal force by our military outside of the United States. And I’m walking away without an understanding of how and why they’re making an assessment that the use of lethal force is adequate here,” said Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) “No, I’m not satisfied.”
“The president has made himself judge, jury, and executioner on this, that basically dealing in the drug trade is now an offense whereby you can be summarily executed,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said in an appearance on CNN last night. “That is an enormous expansion of presidential power that — even after today’s brief — they have not really fully explained to us exactly what the plan is or what the justification legally is for doing it.”
ENOUGH INTEL TO KILL, BUT NOT TO TRY: One of the most jarring comments to follow the briefing came from Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), who said that Pentagon officials explained that, because the drug runners are classified as enemy combatants, “They said that they do not need to positively identify individuals on the vessel to do the strikes.” Additionally, it was added that, “Part of why they could not actually hold or try the individual that survived one of the attacks was because they could not satisfy the evidentiary burden.”
This raised the obvious question of how it is legal to kill someone when you don’t have enough evidence to charge them with a crime? “Blowing up boats without proof isn’t justice. It’s what China or Iran would do,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), one of the few Republicans who have questioned the strikes, said on Newsmax. “There’s no evidence of fentanyl and no due process. This isn’t about blowing up drug boats. It’s about talks of regime change in Venezuela. We’ve seen how that ends: chaos, not freedom.”
“Well, look, we’re talking about life and death. The president claims we’re in a war. It’s important we get this right,” Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA) said on MSNBC. “And from today’s hearing, frankly, I left with more questions than answers.”
SMITH: ANYONE AFFILIATED WITH CARTELS CONSIDERED ‘LEGITIMATE TARGETS’: “What was helpful to us was they did give us a little bit more in terms of information about who they strike, who was doing the strikes,” said Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) during his CNN appearance.
“They do not know the names of the individuals. What they’ve decided is, there are 24 different of these narco-terrorist groups, which they have not been clear on exactly who they are,” Smith said. “But if you are part of that group or affiliated with that group, they now consider you to be a legitimate target.”
The other takeaway from the briefing is that the boats that are being destroyed by the U.S. military are carrying cocaine, not the deadly fentanyl that President Donald Trump says is killing thousands of Americans every day. “Fentanyl has killed more people than any other illegal drug that we’ve dealt with,” Smith said. “And, by the way, it’s 100% clear, none of these boats had any fentanyl on them. It’s pretty much all cocaine.”
“A lot of intel, even before this started, told us that this is not where fentanyl comes from. No fentanyl comes out of Venezuela or Colombia or Peru. It’s cocaine and marijuana primarily. So, we know that there’s no fentanyl coming from that part of the world. This is targeting cocaine,” he said.
“So, how long can we continue to do this and is it really having an impact on the amount of drugs that are coming into America while it is greatly expanding presidential power and killing a lot of people in what most of the rest of the world would refer to as an extrajudicial killing, which basically means you don’t have any process, you’re not under the law of war, you simply decide to kill somebody without a legal justification.”
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Good Friday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Christopher Tremoglie. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre.
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TRUMP’S NUCLEAR TEST ORDER HAS MANY CONFUSED: President Trump’s Thursday order on Truth Social directing the Pentagon to begin testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China, has many nuclear policy experts puzzled, wondering if Trump is reacting to a misunderstanding of what Russia and China are actually doing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been touting two new nuclear-powered delivery systems that could potentially be armed with nuclear warheads — a cruise missile and a long-range torpedo — but no one except North Korea has been conducting test explosions for nearly three decades.
In his daily briefing yesterday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed surprise that the recent tests of the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone would be the basis for a dramatic change in U.S. nuclear policy. “Regarding the tests of Poseidon and Burevestnik, we hope that the information was conveyed correctly to President Trump,” Peskov told journalists, according to AFP.
“This cannot in any way be interpreted as a nuclear test,” Peskov added.
‘READ YOUR BRIEFING MATERIALS, MR. PRESIDENT’: Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly (D), a former astronaut, took to X to question whether President Trump knew the difference between testing missiles and drones as opposed to full-blown nuclear tests that detonate a nuclear weapon.
“I sometimes wonder, is the president reading his briefing materials? Kelly said in a video. “I imagine he saw the test of a cruise missile the Russians are developing. I think he confused that test with a nuclear test.” Trump, he said, “doesn’t seem to be paying attention.”
“The Chinese and the Russians HAVEN’T conducted a recent test of a nuclear warhead. It’s been decades. If we resume testing our weapons (which we have no reason to do), China will likely begin a test program. This only helps them advance their technology and start an arms race,” He concluded. “Read your briefing materials, Mr. President.”
VANCE: IMPORTANT NUCLEAR ARSENAL ‘WORKS PROPERLY’: Asked about Trump’s surprise edict — which, if implemented, could take years, cost millions, and upset a global nuclear consensus — Vice President J.D. Vance downplayed the impact, seeming to suggest a nuclear test explosion could just be routine maintenance of the stockpile.
“The Russians have a large nuclear arsenal. The Chinese have a large nuclear arsenal. Sometimes you’ve got to test it to make sure that it’s functioning and working properly,” Vance told reporters. “To be clear, we know that it does work properly, but you’ve got to keep on top of it over time, and the president just wants to make sure that we do that.”
“We’ve been working very closely, even with nations that we don’t have the best relations with, to try to limit nuclear proliferation. The president’s going to keep on working on that. Still, it’s an important part of American national security to make sure that this nuclear arsenal we have actually functions properly, and that’s part of a testing regime.”
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THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: Trump urges GOP senators to use ‘nuclear option’ to ‘make America great again’
Washington Examiner: Trump lowers refugee cap to 7,500 for 2026
Washington Examiner: Pentagon Joint Staff Gen. Joe McGee pushed out after disputes with Hegseth and Caine
Washington Examiner: Pritzker asks Noem to ‘suspend’ ICE operations during Halloween celebrations
Washington Examiner: Supreme Court zeroes in on meaning of ‘regular forces’ in Chicago National Guard case
Washington Examiner: Warner fumes that Republican-only Senate briefing on Venezuela boat strikes ‘corrosive’ to democracy and ‘dangerous’
Washington Post: U.S. boat strikes spread fear across the Caribbean
Washington Examiner: Stocks of rare earths producers boosted by Trump rise on China truce
AP: China’s Xi promises to protect free trade at APEC as Trump snubs major summit
AP: Trump no-show at big Asian economic forum may risk US reputation in region
Washington Post: Trump Officials Move Into Military Residences in D.C. Area
AP: Drones, oil and escalation: Ukraine’s deep strikes impact Russia, altering war calculations
Financial Times: Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin Budapest summit axed following Moscow memo
Wall Street Journal: Trump’s Vow to Resume Nuclear Tests Leaves Experts Puzzled
Washington Post: Trump push to restart nuclear tests could take years, cost millions, experts say
Breaking Defense: Trump Admin to Redirect $2.8B in Shipbuilding, Weapons Development Funds for Troop Pay
Task & Purpose: Airmen and Space Force Guardians Will Be Extended for 60 Days Due to Shutdown
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Wilsbach Confirmed as Air Force Chief
AP: What Israel’s deadly strikes in Gaza, and Trump’s response, reveal about the ceasefire
Inside Defense: Ten-Year Fighter Plan Is Aspirational Without Money To Back It Up, Air Force Says
SpaceNews: Golden Dome Hype Meets Information Vacuum As Industry Awaits Pentagon Direction
Air Force Times: Hegseth Orders Military to Detail Lawyers to Justice Department
Air & Space Forces Magazine: STRATCOM Nominee Wants More B-21s, Deflects Questions on US Resumption of Nuclear Tests
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Colorado Sues to Stop SPACECOM Move
Military Times: In Reversal, DOD Says Troops Can Wear Uniforms at Veterans Day Events
Stars and Stripes: Disability Fraud Is a ‘Tiny Fraction’ of VA Claims, Advocates Say
THE CALENDAR:
FRIDAY | OCTOBER 31 HALLOWEEN
8:30 a.m. — Asia Society Policy Institute virtual discussion: “Assessing Trump”s Asia Tour,” with Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Washington Post Tokyo bureau chief; former Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler, ASPI vice president; Shay Wester, ASPI director of Asian economic affairs; and Emma Chanlett-Avery, ASPI director for political-security affairs https://asiasociety.org/policy-institute/events/assessing-trumps-asia-tour
10 a.m. 58 East 68th St., New York, N.Y. — Council on Foreign Relations discussion: “U.S. global engagement, defense, and diplomacy,” with House Armed Services ranking member Adam Smith (D-WA) https://www.cfr.org/event
12:15 p.m. 2201 C St. NW — Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Bolivian President-elect Rodrigo Paz.
MONDAY | NOVEMBER 3
12:30 p.m. — Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction webinar: “U.S. Government Assessments of Nuclear War and Nuclear Terrorism Risks: Findings of a National Academies Study,” with Jenny Heimberg, study director, Committee on Risk Analysis Methods for Nuclear War and Nuclear Terrorism, and acting director, Committee on International Security and Arms Control, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; William Ostendorff, co-chair, Committee on Risk Analysis Methods for Nuclear War and Nuclear Terrorism, and former principal deputy administrator, U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration; M. Élisabeth Paté-Cornell, co-chair, Committee on Risk Analysis Methods for Nuclear War and Nuclear Terrorism, and Professor in the Department of Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University; and Zia Mian, Princeton University Program on Science and Global Security, and member, Steering Committee Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register
