The ongoing U.S. military airstrikes in the Caribbean and Pacific have killed at least 95 people without arrest or prosecution as of Monday, Dec. 14. Not only are these strikes patently illegal, they are shortsighted and counterproductive to American interests.
While everyday Americans are working harder for less, Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are lighting taxpayer money on fire for political theater, and they are wasting the time and talent of our men and women in uniform. My experience as a former U.S. Coast Guard officer who has interdicted drug smugglers on the water, had operational control of multiple U.S. and allied assets executing counter-narcotics missions, and worked on U.S. counter-narcotics policy at the White House informs this opinion.
Here are five points the public should know about these strikes:
- I have never seen 11 people on a “go-fast” that was smuggling drugs. I have also been on the water for, or in charge of, assets many times when there was “rock solid” intelligence and no narcotics were found. Yet, in the first of the infamous airstrikes, imagery surfaced 9 of the 11 people on a go-fast style boat. The Pentagon assured the press that it had detailed intelligence on each person. That story later changed when briefing lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
- When drug smugglers are interdicted on the high seas, the U.S. government generally extracts good intelligence from them and their equipment. At a high level, this intelligence is used to better combat the cartels, aid in more interdictions, and is shared with regional allies. The United Kingdom recently ceased intelligence sharing with the United States as a direct result of the U.S. strikes. This is deeply alarming for two reasons. First, the United Kingdom is our closest ally — a glaring example of the erosion of U.S. alliances on the world stage. Second, most counter-narcotics interdictions rely on coordination with trusted regional partners. When regional partners don’t share information, it is, at best, counterproductive. At worst, it can prove dangerous when multiple militaries do not coordinate.
- The Trump administration’s rationale for these strikes is that Venezuelan gangs are narco-terrorists that are plying Americans with fentanyl, so they should be treated as enemy combatants. Fentanyl (overdoses of which are down in 2024 and 2025) is largely trafficked to the United States from Mexico by American citizens in the employ of Mexican cartels. With an eye toward the seemingly imminent U.S. military actions against Venezuela, it is also important to understand that Venezuela is not a major narcotic-trafficking thoroughfare compared to Colombia and Mexico.
- For the fiscally minded among us, it should be noted that each of these strikes costs the American taxpayer more than $150,000 per Hellfire missile. With a trigger-happy Secretary of Defense operating without proof or restraint, we are now burning through American tax dollars on senseless violence with no measurable benefit.
- The ultimate conclusion offered by casual observers is that, even if the methods are unsavory, these strikes are a deterrent to drug cartels who will close up shop at the first sign of danger. This view is naive; whether a shipment is interdicted or blown up, the cartels treat it as a loss and move to the next load of contraband. They are for-profit organizations, and drug shipments will not stop.
What happens to America on our watch is up to us. While our government wages reckless strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, families across this country are struggling to pay electricity bills, afford health care and buy groceries.
This moment demands leadership willing to stand up for American values. Instead, MAGA Republican lawmakers like my congressman, Brian Mast, refuse to call out this dangerous behavior. Leaders do not place political theater and ego over their duty to the American people. The stakes are nothing less than American credibility and the principles we claim to defend.
James Martin, of Hobe Sound, is a national security expert, U.S. Coast Guard veteran and candidate for Florida’s 21st Congressional District.
