The photo above shows the usual ending to a pursuit of cartel drug smugglers by the US Coast Guard and US Navy: a smuggling boat set afire and scuttled after its crew is arrested and its contraband has been seized by a Coast Guard "Law Enforcement Detachment" (LEDET). Those have been the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to adhere to US and International Law for forty years.
What just happened off the coast of Venezuela is different.
On Tuesday, September 2, 2025, President Trump announced via social media that "on my orders," US Military Forces attacked "positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists ... in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States. The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action."
President Trump made it clear that this unprecedented attack was meant to send a message: "Please let this serve notice to anyone even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!," he posted on social media.
During remarks at the White House, he also indicated this was not a "one-off" attack, telling reporters, "There’s more where that came from."
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth revealed on Fox News on Wednesday that he watched live video of the attack and vowed more would follow:
"This is a deadly, serious mission for us, and it won't stop with just this strike. Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate." - US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
Some prior service members reacted with alarm in US military-related Reddit discussion groups. Here's a sample comment from one who identified as a US Navy veteran:
"We used to interdict drug boats, and that way we'd KNOW if they had drugs. We could also get Intel from the people on board, maybe even send them to jail or maybe find out that they're low-level mules who are only on that boat because the cartel will kill their family if they don't run drugs. It doesn't take 11 people to transport drugs, what if they were trafficking people? What if we just murdered some poor people who got kidnapped by a gang, when we could have rescued them? The point is, we don't know because they blew the boat up, along with any information about it and what it was actually doing." -Navy Veteran
The White House displayed none of those misgivings and shared video of the attack on x.com under the heading "President Trump Terminates 11 Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists.”
The attack occurred on the same day a US Federal Court ruled that President Trump could not deport Venezuelans it identified as members of the Tren de Aragua gang using an 18th-century "Alien Enemies Act." The Trump Administration is expected to eventually challenge that ruling before the US Supreme Court.
What are your thoughts about the US Navy blowing up a suspected drug-smuggling boat in International Waters?
Share your thoughts in the comments to this article!
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
I know this post will not be well-received by many of my readers. If you are among them, I ask you to read the following Substack post by 10-year US Army/Air Force veteran Wes O'Donnell (who has since earned a law degree): https://tinyurl.com/3tshtrkk
Those oceans were always moats.
It's good to see them used properly.