From the New York Times, I'm Natalie Kittrow-F.

This is the Daily.

One by one over the past few weeks, three boats in the Caribbean Sea have been blown up by the U.S. military, killing all 17 people aboard.

Each time, President Trump has claimed that the boats were carrying drugs to the U.S.

And that those killed were narco-terrorists.

But he's offered no concrete evidence to back up that claim.

Today, my colleague Charlie Savage on what he's learned about what may be the true objective behind these airstrikes

and whether any of this is even legal.

It's Thursday, September 25th. Charlie, it's great to have you.

Thanks for having me on.

We've come to you to talk about what's been happening off the coast of Venezuela over the past month.

We've now seen three separate U.S. military strikes on boats that American officials say we're carrying drugs.

And those strikes have come after Trump has been building up a military

presence in the Caribbean Sea for weeks now. You cover national security. So help us understand

what's going on here. President Trump and the Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth have ordered

military special operations forces in the

Caribbean to attack boats in international waters, at least for now, that are suspected of smuggling

drugs for certain cartels and gangs that Trump has controversially designated as terrorist organizations.

And this is a fundamental shift in how the United States has been dealing for years and years

with the problem of drug smuggling coming out of Latin America across the water towards the United States.

In a really dramatic and legally disputed shift,

the United States is claiming a right to summarily kill everyone on a boat, it suspects,

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