Hegseth says he has every authorization needed for Caribbean strikes

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

October 5, 2025 1:00 PM EDT Updated 4 hours ago


Oct 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he has every authorization needed for U.S. military strikes on vessels just off the coast of Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal drugs. Hegseth was speaking in a Fox News interview broadcast on Sunday. The United States killed four people in a strike in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, at least the fourth such attack in recent weeks.

"We have every authorization needed. These are designated as foreign terrorist organizations," Hegseth said in an interview on Fox News' "The Sunday Briefing." He did not provide more details about the authorization. Washington has cited the U.S. Constitution, war powers, designation of drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, the right to self-defense and international law on unlawful combatants as the legal basis for the strikes.

Legal experts and some lawmakers argue that using military force in international waters against alleged criminals bypasses due process, violates law enforcement norms, lacks a clear legal foundation under U.S. and international law and is not justified by the cartels’ terrorist designation.

Hegseth and President Donald Trump have not provided evidence for claims that the targeted boats were carrying drugs. Trump told Congress last week that he had determined the U.S. to be in "a non-international armed conflict" with drug cartels, without providing any new legal rationale.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/hegseth-says-he-has-every-authorization-needed-caribbean-strikes-2025-10-05/

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He must have been plastered when he read the Constitution where it says -

Article I (Ed. NOT ARTICLE II)

(snip)

Section 8.

(snip)

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

To provide and maintain a navy;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articlei

There's NOTHING in Article II that has anything to do with the Executive Branch subsuming powers including declarations of "war", piracy, etc., which is to be handled by the LEGISLATIVE BRANCH per Article I.