Pentagon watchdog evaluating US operations involving strikes on alleged drug boats
By Logan Schiciano, CNN
(CNN) — The Defense Department’s internal watchdog has said it is evaluating US Southern Command’s operations that have included strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
It comes as the strikes, which have targeted nearly 60 vessels and killed over 190 people since they began last fall, have been heavily scrutinized by legal experts, members of Congress and even some military lawyers within the Pentagon.
The inspector general’s objective is to determine whether SOUTHCOM followed approved targeting methods when conducting the operations, according to a letter dated May 11 from the Pentagon’s inspector general’s office.
A spokesperson for the inspector general’s office confirmed to CNN that the scope of the evaluation includes “the joint process for targeted vessels in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility as part of Operation Southern Spear,” which is the Pentagon’s name for its campaign against drug trafficking.
The inspector general’s office added the project was “self-initiated” based on its “ongoing assessment” of Pentagon operations.
CNN has reached out to the Pentagon and US Southern Command for more information about the evaluation.
Since launching strikes as part of Operation Southern Spear last September, the Trump administration has sought to justify the attacks by claiming the US is in an “armed conflict” against drug cartels and labeled those killed as enemy combatants.
It’s unclear what the exact scope of the inspector general’s evaluation will include.
The Trump administration justified the lethal strikes in a classified Justice Department legal opinion, CNN reported in October 2025, arguing that the president is allowed to authorize deadly force against a broad range of cartels because they pose an imminent threat to Americans.
CNN also previously reported that US military officials were concerned about the legality of the attacks. Adm. Alvin Holsey, who previously oversaw Southern Command, clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the operations in the weeks before he announced his retirement, which came just one year into his tenure.
Hegseth did not believe Holsey was moving quickly or aggressively enough to combat drug traffickers in the Caribbean, and he complained about not being given the information he needed about the operations, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN at the time.
Scrutiny of the operations against the boats increased on Capitol Hill at the end of last year after it emerged that the military had carried out an apparent follow-up strike targeting the survivors on an alleged drug boat. Lawmakers voiced concerns about the strike, with some Democrats saying it could constitute a “war crime.”
The frequency of known strikes on the alleged boats has slowed in recent months following the US military’s capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, but the attacks have continued. The most recent one on May 8 killed two people, according to SOUTHCOM.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
