United States - October 29, 2025 Eastern Pacific – Four people were killed in the latest U.S. military airstrike on an alleged drug boat in the Eastern Pacific on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced. This marks the 14th such strike since September 2, targeting alleged narco-trafficking vessels in the Pacific and Caribbean and killing more than 60 people overall. Hegseth said the strike was carried out at the direction of President Donald Trump. “This vessel, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” he stated. Four men alleged to be “narco-terrorists” were killed, according to Hegseth, who shared an unclassified video of the strike. He did not disclose the boat’s origin. The announcement coincided with a Trump administration briefing to more than a dozen senators on the campaign off the coast of Venezuela, which invited only Republicans. Democratic Sen. Mark Warner criticized the exclusion, calling it “indefensible and dangerous” and a departure from protocol for congressional oversight of military operations.