WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon watchdog will evaluate whether the U.S. military followed an established targeting framework when carrying out attacks on dozens of alleged drug-smuggling boats that have killed nearly 200 people in Latin American waters since early September. The evaluation will focus specifically on what’s known as the six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle, according to a May 11 letter to Defense Department officials. The phases include a military commander’s intent, target development, analysis, decision, execution and assessment. The Pentagon inspector general’s office said in a statement Tuesday that the review was “self-initiated” and that it would not provide a timeline for when it would be completed. It was reported earlier by Bloomberg.The evaluation will not probe the legality of the strikes, which have drawn intense scrutiny from some Democratic lawmakers and military legal scholars. The Trump administration says the U.S. is at war against the Latin American drug cartels, which it says are responsible for the scourge of fatal drug overdoses plaguing many American communities.
The administration’s campaign of blowing up small boats accused of drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea has persisted since early September and killed at least 193 people in total. U.S. Southern Command said one person survived the latest attack on May 8, but it is not clear if the Coast Guard was able to find and rescue the survivor, which would raise the death toll.
