The U.S. military left another survivor after destroying four more boats off the Latin American coast Monday, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday on social media in a 28-second video of the fiery attacks.
Three U.S. strikes targeted the boats, which Hegseth said were “operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTO) trafficking narcotics in the Eastern Pacific,” though he did not provide supporting evidence. “Eight male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessels during the first strike. Four male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the second strike. Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the third strike,” the defense secretary said on Twitter.
“Regarding the survivor,” Hegseth said, U.S. military officials from Southern Command “immediately initiated Search and Rescue (SAR) standard protocols; Mexican SAR authorities accepted the case and assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue.”
So far, the U.S. has attacked at least 13 boats, killing at least 57 people near Latin America since September 1. And with Hegseth’s order to send the USS Gerald R. Ford out of the Mediterranean Sea and toward Venezuela means the U.S. is about to be in the “fairly unusual position of having only a single aircraft carrier deployed and none in the waters off both Europe and the Middle East,” the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
New: NDAs at the Pentagon for Trump’s war on drug boats. “U.S. military officials involved with President Donald Trump’s expanding operations in Latin America have been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements,” which is “highly unusual, given that U.S. military officials are already required to shield national security secrets from public view,” Reuters reported Tuesday.
Notable legal context for U.S. troops and civilians involved in the boat strikes: “Any military officials involved in the clearly legally controversial Venezuelan boat strikes must negotiate their twin duties of following a superior order and not following a patently illegal order,” like killing civilians who may not in fact be drug smugglers or terrorists, writes former Pentagon counsel Jack Goldsmith.
However, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel is sitting on a classified, unpublished memo that amounts to a “golden shield” of immunity, as Charlie Savage of the New York Times reported Friday. That memo effectively “immunizes the officer (and everyone else) who relies on it from subsequent punishment,” Goldsmith writes.
“And then, of course, there is the president’s pardon power, the after-action and more powerful equivalent of the before-action OLC golden shield…I expect Trump to issue hundreds and possibly thousands of preemptive pardons to everyone in his administration who may conceivably be subject to future investigation or prosecution,” Goldsmith reminds his readers. The result would seem to be the unrestrained executive Trump himself described when he said six years ago, “I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.”
Related reading: “Irreconcilable Presidential Determinations: On Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan Government,” which comes from more recent former Pentagon counsel Ryan Goodman along with Michael Schmitt and Anna Jimenez, writing Wednesday in Just Security.
In other legal concerns: “Two Illinois National Guard members told CBS News they would refuse to obey federal orders to deploy in Chicago as part of President Trump’s controversial immigration enforcement mission,” CBS reported Tuesday.
“[I]t’s really hard to be a soldier right now…we have somebody in power who’s actively dismantling our rights—free speech, due process, freedom of the press,” one of the soldiers said. “I signed up to defend the American people and protect the Constitution.”
“It’s a slow normalization of using the military in American cities,” the soldier said. “Today it’s Chicago. Tomorrow it could be somewhere else…Crime is down. This is not about safety—it’s about control.”
Related: “Appeals court will reconsider decision that allowed Trump to deploy National Guard troops to Portland,” CNN reported Tuesday. Oregon Public Broadcasting has similar coverage, here.
Coverage continues below…
Welcome to this Wednesday 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. 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 1929, “Black Tuesday” marked the start of America’s Great Depression.
President Trump made at least 11 false claims while speaking to U.S. troops stationed in Japan, CNN’s Daniel Dale reported in an abbreviated fact check on Tuesday. “This is not a comprehensive list of the falsehoods in the speech.”Misinformed topics included the 2020 election, grocery prices, inflation, and a cluster of inaccuracies regarding former President Biden.
From Capitol Hill: Senators challenge Hegseth’s bottleneck on communications with Congress. Two senators raised concerns on Tuesday about a new Pentagon policy—first reported last week by Breaking Defense—that could bar defense personnel and military commanders from communicating with lawmakers without prior approval, Defense One’s Lauren C. Williams reported from a hearing to consider nominees for several senior Defense Department roles.
“I’m concerned about the October 15 memo from the secretary, which basically throttles communication between people working at the Pentagon and Congress, including this committee. And I hope that’s something to discuss and consider,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces panel.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who chairs the committee, concurred. “It has been suggested that that memo was misconstrued, and it may need to be clarified. So, thank you for bringing that up,” Wicker said.
About the document: It says that “unauthorized engagements” with lawmakers could “undermine Department-wide priorities critical to achieving our legislative objectives” and heighten tensions between the Pentagon and Capitol Hill. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have lambasted the policy change, saying the move could ultimately stymie the Pentagon’s legislative goals. More, here.
Related expert reax: “Reduced information flow from DoD could result in more confusion regarding the DoD’s plans and may weigh on the contractors’ abilities to attract capital for investment,” said analyst Byron Callan, writing (PDF) Tuesday.
Developing: The Pentagon is trying to fire allegedly underperforming civilian personnel with “speed and conviction,” according to a Sept. 30 memo (PDF), The Hill and the Washington Post reported Tuesday. “Employees targeted for firing now have just seven days to challenge unfavorable review,” The Hill writes.
On Friday, the Navy launched a review of Marines’ and sailors’ personal social media posts, Task & Purpose reported Tuesday. Officials will be looking for “social media activity that is misaligned with the [Navy’s] current social media guidance,” Navy Secretary John Phelan said in a message to the force Friday.
For what it’s worth: “Phelan’s message comes as elections are scheduled throughout the country for next week.” More, here.
Additional reading:
Industry
General Dynamics CEO warns of government shutdown effects. General Dynamics boasted nearly $12.91 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2025 as well as increased submarine production, according to the company’s earnings call Friday. But gains were tempered by worries about the potential effects of an extended government shutdown, Defense One’s Williams reported Tuesday.
“On a company-wide basis, we see annual revenue of around $52 billion and margins of around 10.3 percent,” CEO Phebe Novakovic said of the company’s outlook for the rest of the year. But, she added, “Let me remind you that we’re in the midst of a government shutdown with no end in sight. The longer it lasts, the more it will impact us, particularly the shorter cycle businesses. So forecasts in this environment are difficult at best, and less reliable than one would hope.”
Should the shutdown extend into next year, she said, “that increases the likelihood that it’ll have additional impacts on particular lines of business that begin to run out of funding.
About GD’s portfolio: Shipbuilding saw about $4.1 billion in revenue growth in the third quarter, up by about $497 million from the same quarter last year, with “increased throughput” in construction of the Columbia-class and Virginia-class submarines, Novakovic said. The firm also highlighted steady build progress for the first Columbia-class submarine, saying they expect all major modules to be delivered to the Electric Boat facility in Groton, Conn. Read more, here.
Commentary: “Don’t give up the shipyards,” argues Hunter Stires, Project Director of the U.S. Naval Institute’s Maritime Counterinsurgency Project and Maritime Strategist to the 78th Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, writing Tuesday in Defense One.
And from last week, “Trump Pushes for New Classes of Navy Warships,” the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Lastly, Boeing Defense workers’ strike is nearing the three-month mark after they rejected Boeing’s offer over the weekend, Reuters reported Monday.
At issue: “IAM leaders have pressed the planemaker for higher retirement plan contributions and a ratification bonus closer to the $12,000 that Boeing gave to union members on strike last year in the company’s commercial airplane division in the Pacific Northwest.”
Background: About 3,200 St. Louis-area workers have been on strike since August 4, which has contributed to delays in sending F-15EX fighters to the Air Force. Read more, here.
Additional reading:
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