In international waters around Latin America, Trump says he ordered another “lethal kinetic strike” on a boat allegedly “affiliated with [an unnamed] Designated Terrorist Organization conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” the president posted online Friday. He did not say when this third lethal strike was carried out.
Trump said three “narcoterrorists” were killed in the latest attack, and alleged “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans.” To our knowledge, neither Trump nor the Pentagon have shared that evidence with the public. “STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA, AND COMMITTING VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM AGAINST AMERICANS!!!” the president added in his Friday post.
Panning out, “In Venezuela, some are speculating whether the strikes are part of a plan to try to topple President Nicolás Maduro, a notion that the Venezuelan leader has echoed,” the Associated Press reports.
Some lingering questions about these operations include:
- If these boats are carrying fentanyl as alleged, then why not seize one and show the public?
- What is the U.S. military’s targeting and attack criteria?
- Are the boats being contacted before being destroyed?
- What is the intelligence behind the lethal strikes, and what is considered an actionable level of confidence in the intelligence? (Hat tip to Josh Collins and Cheryl Rofer for those suggestions.)
Legal considerations: “A wide range of specialists in domestic and international law regulating the use of force have argued that Mr. Trump and Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, are giving the military illegal orders and causing Special Operations forces to deliberately target civilians—even if they are criminal suspects—in violation of murder laws,” the New York Times reports. However, “A draft bill circulated this week within the executive branch and Congress would provide sweeping legal authorization to Mr. Trump to use military force against people, groups and nations he deems linked to narcoterrorism. It is not clear whether it could pass the Republican-controlled Congress.”
Historical consideration: “At the Nuremberg trials, Karl Dönitz was convicted of war crimes for the sinking of civilian vessels,” lawyer Max Kennerly wrote on social media Monday. “This is not a complicated question,” he added, “it’s been illegal for centuries.”
Update: The Taliban have rejected Trump’s desire to retake Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base. The group’s deputy spokesman posted a rebuttal on social media Sunday, reminding White House officials, “It is worth recalling that the Doha Agreement clearly stipulated the United States’ commitment ‘to refrain from the use of force or threat against the territorial integrity and political independence of Afghanistan, and non-interference in its internal affairs,’ and therefore, they are obligated to fully adhere to these commitments.”
Reminder: Trump ordered that agreement signed in Doha, which was finalized in the final year of his first term in office. But the president has so far refused to drop the matter.
“If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!” Trump threatened on social media Sunday.
U.S. forces in the Middle East say they killed another “senior ISIS” fighter at an undisclosed location in Syria on Friday. His name was Omar Abdul Qader, and Central Command officials described him as “an ISIS member actively seeking to attack the United States.”
Worth noting: Syrian troops participated in that operation, which is at least the third time that’s known to have occurred since July, according to Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute, who said the operation took place near Jarjisah, Hama province.
“As I understand, there’ve been more undeclared operations” bringing U.S. and Syrian troops together to fight terrorism, Lister added.
By the way: A Syrian president has visited the U.S. for the first time in almost 60 years. Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in New York City Monday for this week’s United Nations General Assembly, featuring speeches from top-level officials around the world, including Trump on Tuesday. Reuters has a bit more.
Welcome to this Monday edition of The D Brief, a newsletter dedicated to developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Ben Watson with Bradley Peniston and Thomas Novelly. It’s more important than ever to stay informed, so thank you for reading. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1980, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in an opportunistic attempt to exploit the perceived weakness of its year-old revolutionary government. The ensuing war instead helped Tehran solidify domestic support.
Industry
Shutdown watch: “Last week ended with the House passing a CR (continuing resolution) on a 217-212 vote, but the Senate rejected it on a 44-48 vote. Congress is on recess this week, and we suppose that a rabbit could be pulled out of a hat on Sept. 29-30, but an appropriations lapse looks probable. Our view remains that a shutdown could be immaterial to defense and federal services contractors if a CR can be passed later in October,” writes Byron Callan of Capital Alpha.
F-47’s first flight expected in 2028, says Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin. That adds specificity to the service’s plan for its sixth-gen combat aircraft, which had previously said it would take wing “by decade’s end.” Manufacturing has begun on the first jet, Allvin said Monday at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference outside Washington, D.C. Defense One’s Thomas Novelly and Lauren C. Williams are at the show this week; watch for their coverage or, if you’re there, reach out to them.
Lockheed Martin unveils work on a potential CCA competitor. It’s the Vectis drone, which the Skunk Works director says would be stealthy, long-legged enough for Pacific missions, and smaller than an F-16 but larger than a missile. Novelly has a bit more, here.
Related reading/viewing:
Trump 2.0
The Air Force is operating deportation flights for ICE to Africa with transponders turned off, making them nearly un-trackable, Rolling Stone reported over the weekend. “This includes the third-country removal to Ghana and another secret flight,” investigator Gillian Brockell writes.
Trump’s FBI dropped a corruption investigation against Tom Homan. Before he took over as Trump’s “border czar” and prior to the election, FBI agents last year caught Tom Homan accepting a bag containing $50,000 in cash from agents posing as business executives, MSNBC reported this weekend. Homan had promised to help the businessmen win government contracts related to border security should President Trump return to office.
One notable hiccup: At the time he accepted the bag of cash, Homan “was not a public official, and Trump was not president at the time he accepted money in the FBI’s undercover sting, so his actions didn’t clearly fit under a standard bribery charge,” Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian reported for MSNBC.
After Trump took office, the case was dropped by the Justice Department. According to the New York Times, “One person familiar with the case said the evidence gathered had not met all the necessary elements of relevant federal crimes, while another contended that the case was effectively ended prematurely, before such additional evidence could be gathered.”
Expert reax: “If someone who is not yet a public official, but expects to be, takes bribes in exchange for agreeing to take official acts after they are appointed, they can’t be charged with bribery. But they can be charged with conspiracy to commit bribery. In a conspiracy charge, the crime is the agreement to commit a criminal act in the future,” Randall Eliason, the former chief of public corruption prosecutions in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C., told MSNBC. Story, here.
Pentagon: Journalists who obtain “unauthorized” information will lose their building passes. “[Department of War] information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified,” says a document released Friday with a Sept. 18 memo from Pentagon spokesman Seth Parnell.
Parnell’s office is requiring Pentagon reporters to sign an agreement to this effect. Washington Post: “The agreement represents a sharp departure from the practice over decades of military and civilian defense leaders who have felt comfortable openly talking to and even going into war zones with the press.” Read on, here, with other coverage from the New York Times and Politico.
Outgoing GOP Rep. Don Bacon: “This is so dumb that I have a hard time believing it is true,” the retired Air Force one-star wrote on social media Saturday. While occasionally critical of Trump, it’s worth noting that Bacon is not seeking re-election. “We don’t want a bunch of Pravda newspapers only touting the Government’s official position,” he said Saturday, adding, “A free press makes our country better. This sounds like more amateur hour.”
The National Press Club: “If the news about our military must first be approved by the government, then the public is no longer getting independent reporting,” NPC President Mike Balsamo said in a statement. “It is getting only what officials want them to see. That should alarm every American.”
Reminder: “This will be the most transparent administration ever,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed in a February social media post. Parnell’s document added, “DoW remains committed to transparency to promote accountability and public trust.”
Even the president seemed unenthused about this new idea from Hegseth’s department. “Should the Pentagon be part of deciding what reporters can report on?” a reporter asked Trump on Sunday. “No, I don’t think so. But nothing stops reporters, you know that,” he replied.
Additional reading:
Etc.
Three Russian jets entered the airspace of NATO member Estonia on Friday. Italian jets with the alliance’s new Eastern Sentry operation responded and directed the Russians out after a 12-minute incursion. In response, Estonia requested a meeting of NATO members under Article 4, just as Poland did last week after Russian drones and jets entered its airspace.
Capitol Hill reax: “These are calculated moves intended to normalize aggression, wear down our resolve, and send a signal that Moscow can push boundaries with impunity,” said co-chairs of the Senate’s NATO Observer Group Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire. These provocations also present a real risk of miscalculation that could lead to unforeseen escalation. “Putin has shown us time and again that he is a liar and a murderer with no desire for peace,” they added.
Should Russia declare war on NATO, Germany is already planning for as many as 1,000 wounded troops per day, Reuters reported Monday from Berlin.
But drones may complicate that process. “The Ukrainians often cannot evacuate their wounded fast enough because drones are buzzing overhead everywhere,” Germany’s Surgeon General Ralf Hoffmann told the wire service in an interview. A bit more, here.
Additional reading:
Read the full article here