By Steve Neavling
The Trump administration has produced a classified Justice Department opinion that authorizes lethal strikes against a secret and expansive list of cartels and suspected drug traffickers, according to several people familiar with the document, CNN reports.
Drafted by the Office of Legal Counsel, the opinion argues that the president may use deadly force against cartels that pose an “imminent threat” to Americans, even those not officially designated as terrorist groups.
Legal experts said the opinion effectively gives the president open-ended war powers to target suspected traffickers without court oversight.
“If the OLC opinion is as broad as it seems, it would mean DOJ has interpreted the president to have such extraordinary powers that he alone can decide to prosecute a war far broader than what Congress authorized after 9/11,” said Sarah Harrison, a former Defense Department attorney now with the Crisis Group.
Harrison added that, under this logic, “any small, medium or big group that is trafficking drugs into the U.S.” could be treated as an enemy force.
Defense Department officials told lawmakers last week that recent U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean, which killed people the Trump administration says were “affiliated” with cartels, relied on the OLC opinion’s legal rationale. Congress has repeatedly requested the document but has not received it.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is expected to face questions about the policy when she testifies Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
At least four deadly strikes have been carried out so far, including one last week that killed four people, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media.
Some Pentagon lawyers and military legal experts have questioned the legality of the killings, but JAG officers said the OLC’s opinion is binding within the executive branch, leaving little room for dissent.
