Overview
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a 16th maritime strike in the eastern Pacific this week, with official death counts now at roughly 66 to 67.
- Senate Intelligence Vice Chair Mark Warner, after briefings with Secretaries Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth, said U.S. intelligence offers visibility into drug transport and that the targets were drug-runners.
- Warner continued to fault the absence of publicly presented interdictions or other corroborating evidence, saying the approach undermines confidence.
- The administration frames the operations as wartime action against cartel terrorists, with Hegseth vowing to destroy trafficking vessels and President Trump claiming each boat destroyed saves tens of thousands of American lives.
- A U.S. military buildup off Venezuela’s coast has raised regional concerns, while a Newsweek reader sample recorded more than 90 percent opposition to the strikes.