On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefed members of Congress from both the Senate and the House of Representatives on the US military’s operations targeting drug smuggling ships off the coast of Venezuela. Previously, Congress had expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of transparency in these operations.
Rubio and Hegseth met with leaders of both parties in Congress, as well as senior members of the National Security Council, spending approximately an hour discussing the military strikes against drug smuggling ships in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific region. These operations, which began in early September, have resulted in the deaths of dozens of individuals.
The Trump administration claims that the targeted ships were transporting drugs, specifically cocaine, but has not provided evidence to support this claim. Furthermore, they have not publicly explained the legal basis for sinking these ships.
According to some senators and representatives who attended the briefing, Rubio and Hegseth clarified that the ships were carrying cocaine, not fentanyl, and explained the legal justification for these military operations.
Republican lawmakers expressed satisfaction with the briefing. House Speaker Mike Johnson stated that the intelligence regarding these ships was extremely accurate and that US authorities were aware of the identities of nearly every individual on board before the strikes were carried out.
Johnson said, “From what I understand at this point, our intelligence is very reliable. These are all members of drug trafficking groups, all actively involved. They are not coincidentally on the same ship. They were intending to illegally traffic drugs into the United States, posing a significant threat to the American people.”
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticized the government for failing to publicly explain these operations, including the legal justification, which has undermined the confidence of the American public and Latin American partners in the Trump administration’s efforts to combat drug trafficking.
Warner also criticized the government for holding a briefing on these operations last week that excluded Democrats.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon also denied some lawmakers’ accusations, which claimed that Elbridge Colby, the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Policy Affairs, had not fully briefed Congress on important national security matters.
This article was based on reports from Reuters.