Overview

• U.S. military planners have drafted options for drone attacks on trafficking leaders and drug labs inside Venezuela that could be executed within weeks, though President Trump has not authorized them, according to four sources cited by NBC News.
• The administration has acknowledged three lethal strikes on suspected smuggling boats this month with limited public evidence; Dominican officials said roughly 1,000 kilograms of cocaine were recovered from the water after one of the incidents.
• The Pentagon has surged at least eight warships carrying more than 5,000 sailors and Marines to the region, deployed F-35s to Puerto Rico, and positioned a cruise-missile–capable submarine, defense officials said.
• Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto told the U.N. the U.S. poses an “immoral” military threat, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro urged criminal proceedings over the boat killings, and Venezuelan authorities announced drills as local fishers voiced safety fears.
• Congressional critics are questioning legal justifications under U.S. and international law as the administration cites self-defense and terror designations; NBC also reports indirect contacts with Caracas via Middle Eastern intermediaries and notes some officials have not ruled out regime-change goals.