Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) issued a statement Saturday vowing to conduct “vigorous oversight” on Caribbean strikes after a report surfaced that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the U.S. military to “kill everybody” aboard an alleged drug vessel.
Archiv: US Senate Committee on Armed Services (Senate Armed Services Committee)
Dear Attorney General Bondi and Secretary Hegseth:
(November 24, 2025)
Dear Attorney General Bondi and Secretary Hegseth:
We are writing to request expeditious declassification and public release of the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel’s written opinion, dated September 5, 2025, concerning the domestic and international legal basis for recent military strikes of certain vessels near South America and the Caribbean, with appropriate redactions necessary to protect military personnel and sensitive intelligence matters.
Significant and noteworthy precedent exists for the public release of OLC opinions related to overseas military action. After the United States carried out military strikes in Libya in 2011 and in Syria in 2018, the Department of Justice released the applicable OLC opinion justifying each operation.
Few decisions are more consequential for a democracy than the use of lethal force. We therefore believe that the declassification and public release of this important document would enhance transparency in the use of deadly force by our Nation’s military and is necessary to ensure Congress and the American people are fully informed of the legal justification supporting these strikes.
Sincerely,
Richard Blumenthal
United States Senator
Jack Reed
United States Senator
Jeanne Shaheen
United States Senator
Kirsten Gillibrand
United States Senator
Mazie K. Hirono
United States Senator
Tim Kaine
United States Senator
Angus S. King, Jr.
United States Senator
Elizabeth Warren
United States Senator
Gary C. Peters
United States Senator
Tammy Duckworth
United States Senator
Jacky Rosen
United States Senator
Mark Kelly
United States Senator
Elissa Slotkin
United States Senator
Senate Democrats ask Hegseth, Bondi to declassify DOJ memo on drug boat strikes
(November 24, 2025)
Senate Democrats are asking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi to declassify and publicly release the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel’s classified, written opinion outlining the legal basis for the Trump administration’s strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
Thirteen Senate Democrats, all members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, are demanding an “expeditious declassification and public release” of the classified opinion, which was drafted over the summer and argued that U.S. troops who participate in boat strikes, which have taken place on both sides of South America, cannot be prosecuted.
Slotkin Demands Declassification and Public Release of Information on the Trump Administration’s Lethal Airstrikes
Nov 24, 2025 | Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) joined members of the Senate Armed Services Committee in writing to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth requesting the declassification and public release of the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) written opinion on the Trump Administration’s lethal airstrikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
“Few decisions are more consequential for a democracy than the use of lethal force. We therefore believe that the declassification and public release of this important document would enhance transparency in the use of deadly force by our Nation’s military and is necessary to ensure Congress and the American people are fully informed of the legal justification supporting these strikes,” the Senators wrote.
Lawmakers still benefitting from share trading in defense stocks
(02.04.2024)
With the onslaught of new wars, Congress added $70 billion over the last two years to an already bloated Pentagon budget, much of which is funneled directly into the coffers of defense contractors like Palatir, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. The stock values in these companies have since experienced double-digit growth – a lucrative business opportunity not overlooked by lawmakers calling the shots.
At least 25 members of Congress sitting on national security committees have simultaneously purchased stock in these very same companies. The majority of these members sit on the Senate and House Armed Services committees, the entities responsible for overseeing the Defense Department budget and contracts.
We don’t need nuclear cruise missiles at sea
(August 9, 2023)
This month, as House and Senate conferees begin to iron out differences between the two chambers on a nearly $900 billion Pentagon spending bill for next fiscal year, both the House and Senate armed services committees want to place a new generation of nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles (known as SLCM-Ns) back on Navy vessels. That would be a mistake.
US reveals secret Saudi nuclear deal
(28.03.2019)
The Donald Trump administration has granted permission to unspecified US companies to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia and provide technical assistance, US Energy Secretary Rick Perry told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
The companies have asked the administration to keep the approvals secret.
The oil-rich kingdom is set to build at least two nuclear power plants, with several countries, including the US, South Korea, and Russia, all vying for the project. However, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also stated that his country would also seek to develop nuclear weapons if its Iranian rivals obtained it.
US reveals secret Saudi nuclear deal
(28.03.2019)
The Donald Trump administration has granted permission to unspecified US companies to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia and provide technical assistance, US Energy Secretary Rick Perry told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
The companies have asked the administration to keep the approvals secret.
The oil-rich kingdom is set to build at least two nuclear power plants, with several countries, including the US, South Korea, and Russia, all vying for the project. However, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also stated that his country would also seek to develop nuclear weapons if its Iranian rivals obtained it.
Gen. McKenzie again says he is responsible for drone strike that killed 10 civilians but seems to defend decision to fire, citing similar intel for other successful strikes. Still a lot of questions about what transpired before strike, including civilian casualty estimates.
It happened in my area of responsibility, so I‘m the responsible officer for that strike,” McKenzie said during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
McKenzie said he was under “no pressure” and “no one in my chain of command below me was under any pressure to take that strike.”
Five takeaways from the Senate‘s hearing on Afghanistan
Austin said military officials had discussed “a range of possibilities,” but no one planned for the possibility the Afghan government would collapse as quickly as it did.
“We certainly did not plan against a collapse of the government in 11 days,” Austin told lawmakers in response to a lawmaker question.
Secretary of Defense & Joint Chiefs Chair and Others Testify on Afghanistan Withdrawal
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs Chair General Mark Milley, and General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, testify on the Afghanistan withdrawal.