Overview
- The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel produced a roughly 40‑page memo in late summer validating the maritime strikes.
- People who read the opinion say it treats the United States as in armed conflict with “narco‑terrorist” cartels based largely on White House claims.
- The campaign has killed about 80 people on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, according to the latest reporting.
- Legal experts and other critics dispute the existence of any armed conflict and question the lawfulness of the killings.
- The administration has released scant public detail about its legal analysis while portraying targeted groups as terrorists financing violence.