Washington — White House Deputy Chief of StaffStephen Miller helped shape a U.S. military campaign that has carried out lethal strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, according to current and former officials cited by The Washington Post.
The campaign, which began in September, represents an expansion of U.S. military force against alleged narcotics traffickers. The Post reported the United States has carried out more than two dozen strikes since then, killing at least 99 people, according to officials familiar with the operations.
U.S. Southern Command has said strikes were conducted in international waters and has described targeted vessels as operating along known narco-trafficking routes and being run by what it called Designated Terrorist Organizations, without publicly identifying specific groups or releasing evidence of the alleged drug cargoes in each case, according to CBS.
From Mexico options to maritime strikes
The Post reported that early in Trump’s second term, Miller and other senior officials explored aggressive options against transnational criminal groups, including potential military action against cartel-linked networks.
According to current and former officials cited by the Post, the administration initially weighed striking cartels and alleged traffickers tied to Mexico, but after Mexican security operations reduced cartel activity along the southern U.S. border, Miller’s team shifted focus toward maritime trafficking routes that officials linked to Venezuela.
Legal authorities described in the reporting
The Post said Miller helped steer drafting of a classified presidential directive signed July 25 authorizing lethal force against two dozen foreign criminal organizations designated by the administration as “terrorist organizations,” and that the directive formed the basis for an Aug. 5 execute order issued by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth setting permissive targeting standards for strikes.
According to the Post, the execute order allows lethal action based on “reasonable certainty” that adult males are affiliated with a designated group, while requiring “near certainty” that civilians are not present. Current and former officials told the Post the criteria resemble “signature strikes” used in post-9/11 counterterrorism campaigns, despite the absence of congressional authorization for a new armed conflict.
Scrutiny over targeting and oversight
Critics cited by the Post, including former military lawyers and national security experts, warned the approach stretches international law and sets a dangerous precedent for using lethal force based on affiliation judgments in counternarcotics operations.
In Washington, the House Armed Services Committee’s leadership said it was taking bipartisan steps to obtain a full accounting of reported follow-on strikes in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility.
Separately, the PBS reported that a Dec. 17 eastern Pacific strike marked the 26th known strike in the campaign.
Venezuela pressure campaign context
The Post described the strike campaign as intersecting with the administration’s broader effort to intensify pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom Trump has accused of overseeing “narco-terrorists,” claims that the Post said have been disputed by U.S. intelligence assessments cited by lawmakers.The Washington Post
The reporting also portrayed Miller’s role as part of a wider expansion of influence across national security and immigration policy. Separate reporting cited by The Latin Times said Miller has directed visa and refugee policy through near-daily interagency calls, according to officials interviewed by The Guardian.
What is known and what is not
The Post’s account is based largely on interviews with current and former U.S. officials and on descriptions of classified directives that are not publicly available.The Washington Post U.S. Southern Command has released limited unclassified information about individual strikes, and details about specific targeting determinations and the evidence tying particular vessels to drug shipments or designated groups have not been made public in many cases.
