The Just Security Podcast: Murder on the High Seas Part IV

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

The Trump administration has continued its campaign of lethal strikes against suspected drug traffickers at sea. To date, 83 people have reportedly been killed in 21 strikes. The strikes have met increasing scrutiny both inside the United States and abroad, with some close U.S. allies reportedly suspending intelligence sharing over concerns of the illegality of the campaign, and recently surfaced reporting of the deliberate killing of two strike survivors receiving rare bipartisan attention from Congress.

On the fourth installment of the Murder on the High Seas series, cross-posted with NYU Law School’s Reiss Center on Law and Security, co-hosts Tess Bridgeman and Rachel Goldbrenner are joined by Rebecca Ingber and Brian Finucane to discuss the latest developments.

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 Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Reiss Center on Law and Security. 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 human rights and multilateral affairs at the National Security Council.

Additional Resources

• Murder on the High Seas Part III  (Oct. 21, 2025, also available on YouTube)
• Murder on the High Seas Part II — What We Know about U.S. Vessel Strikes One Month In (Oct. 7, 2025, also available on YouTube)
• Murder on the High Seas? What You Need to Know about the U.S. Strike on the Caribbean Vessel (Sep. 9, 2025, also available on YouTube)
• Unlawful Orders and Killing Shipwrecked Boat Strike Survivors: An Expert Backgrounder by Michael Schmitt, Ryan Goodman, and Tess Bridgeman (Dec. 1, 2025)
• Timeline of Vessel Strikes and Related Actions by Jeremy Chin, Margaret Lin, and Aidan Arasasingham (Nov. 21, 2025, updated regularly)
• Just Security’s Collection: U.S. Lethal Strikes on Suspected Drug Traffickers
• The NYU Law Reiss Center on Law and Security’s War Powers Resolution Reporting Project