Since beginning its lethal attacks on boats in the Caribbean last month, the Trump administration has faced a difficult question: How can the U.S. justify drone strikes against non-combatants?

In a briefing on Capitol Hill last week, the U.S. military offered up new explanations, relying on Article 2 of the constitution and hinging on the claim the suspected drug traffickers are affiliated with “designated terrorist organizations,” or DTOs, according to three sources familiar with the meeting.

The vague phrase – which has previously appeared in government publications but lacks a clear definition – was used in Trump’s two-page War Powers letter to Congress following the first boat strike on September 2 and one of Trump’s TruthSocial posts. A defense official, who did not attend the briefing and spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity, called the label “meaningless.”

Unlike at a previous briefing that excluded senior staff from House leadership and relevant committees, the military sent judge advocates general (JAGs) to last week’s briefing, ostensibly to explain the legal underpinnings of the attacks. The sources familiar with the meeting said that Congressional staffers left the Thursday gathering without answers. Military briefers repeatedly referenced a secret directive that the staffers involved have never seen, according to the government officials. The directive, reportedly signed by Trump in July, ordered the Pentagon to use military force against some Latin American drug cartels he has labeled terrorist organizations.

Experts told The Intercept that the sweeping authority asserted by the White House opens the door to even greater authoritarian overreach at home — and the possibility that President Donald Trump could order lethal strikes on supposed enemies inside the United States.

“We have a word for that — a word for the premeditated killing of people. That word is murder.”

“The U.S. boat strikes in the Caribbean were unlawful killings, no matter what the Trump administration’s lawyers say after the fact. There is no recognized armed conflict that magically converts alleged criminals into combatants,” said Sarah Yager, a former senior adviser on human rights to the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Inventing new labels like ‘narco-terrorists’ or ‘designated terrorist organizations’ does not create legal authority where none exists. International human rights law is what governs this situation. It clearly says that lethal force is a last resort to avert an imminent threat to life and the burden is on the government to show necessity and immediacy. The Trump administration hasn’t. Dressing this up as self-defense is wordplay, not law.”

The first announced U.S. air strike on a boat in the Caribbean took place September 2 and killed 11 people, according to the Trump administration. U.S. officials have said that boat and another vessel targeted on September 16 had set out to sea from Venezuela. Three people died in the second attack, according to President Donald Trump. The U.S. military attacked a third boat on September 19, also killing three people. In each instance, Trump stated the attacks were against narco-terrorists or members of the Tren de Aragua drug cartel on their way to the United States.

The Intercept sent the Office of the Secretary of War repeated requests for a count of all

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