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Murder on the High Seas Part II: What We Know about U.S. Vessel Strikes One Month In

October 7

A special episode of The Just Security Podcast, co-hosted by the Reiss Center on Law and Security

October 7, 2025

 

Since early September, President Trump has ordered the U.S. military to conduct multiple lethal strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea suspected of drug trafficking, resulting in at least 21 deaths.

These unprecedented military actions raise critical questions about the identity of those targeted, the Administration’s legal justification, and the scope of presidential power to designate “terrorists” and authorize lethal force. What checks exist from Congress, courts, or the executive branch to limit such authority?

On this episode of the Just Security Podcast, cross-hosted with the Reiss Center on Law and Security, host Tess Bridgeman and co-host Rachel Goldbrenner are joined by experts Rebecca Ingber and Brian Finucane to analyze the facts, the law, and the broader implications of this military campaign in the Caribbean.

They examine an important new chapter in the use of force against drug cartels and explores how far presidential powers extend in such contexts.

 

Podcast Guests

  • Brian Finucane is senior adviser with the U.S. Program at the International Crisis Group and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Reiss Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law. Prior to joining Crisis Group in 2021, he served as an attorney-adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State.
  • Rebecca Ingber is a Professor of Law at Cardozo Law School and a Crane Fellow in Law and Public Policy at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. From 2021-23, she served as Counselor on International Law in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State. She is a Member of the Just Security Editorial Board.

 

Podcast Hosts

  • Tess Bridgeman is co-editor-in-chief of Just Security and Senior Fellow and Visiting Scholar at the Reiss Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law. She previously served as Special Assistant to the President, Associate Counsel to the President, and Deputy Legal Adviser to the National Security Council (NSC), and at the U.S. State Department in the Office of the Legal Adviser.
  • Rachel Goldbrenner is the Executive Director of the Reiss Center on Law and Security and Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU School of Law. She previously served as Senior Policy Advisor to the Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, and Director for War Crimes and Atrocities Prevention at the National Security Council.

 

Additional Resources

Executive branch reporting on the vessel strikes, on Tren de Aragua, and related resources:

  • 48-Hour Report pursuant to the War Powers Resolution (September 4, 2025) (Note: For a living resource containing this and all other publicly available reports submitted pursuant to the War Powers Resolution since its enactment in 1973, see NYU Law’s Reiss Center on Law and Security’s War Powers Resolution Reporting Project)
  • Notice to Congress Under 50 U.S.C. §1543a (Section 1230 of the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act) (undated, made public October 2, 2025)
  • National Intelligence Council, Venezuela: Examining Regime Ties to Tren de Aragua (April 7, 2025)

Listeners may also be interested in Just Security‘s Collection: U.S. Lethal Strikes on Suspected Drug Traffickers (updated, Oct. 3, 2025), including:

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