I Know What Happened During the Drug Boat Strikes

In this episode of The Rule of Law Brief, Nate Charles breaks down what actually went wrong during the U.S. drug-boat strikes in the Caribbean — and why the legal failures weren’t subtle, debatable, or ambiguous.

Drawing on his experience as a former Navy SEAL officer assigned to JSOC, Nate explains how a lawful land-warfare tactic — the “double-tap” used against armed combatants inside a declared theater of active armed conflict — appears to have been blindly imported into a maritime interdiction context where it absolutely does not apply. The result: strikes that were illegal under the Geneva Conventions, likely constituted war crimes, and reflected a catastrophic misunderstanding of basic international humanitarian law.

He also discusses:

* How the AUMF and DTAC framework governed lawful counterterrorism strikes — and why none of those authorities existed here.

* What “hors de combat” actually means, and why Geneva draws a bright line between land warfare and naval engagements.

* Why a disabled vessel — and especially sailors in the water — are legally protected shipwreck survivors who cannot be targeted under any circumstances.

* The deeper institutional problem: senior leaders who simply didn’t understand the law they were operating under.

* Why accountability is necessary, and why incompetence — not malice — is the most plausible explanation.

This episode is blunt, legally grounded, and unsparing in its assessment: the strikes were illegal, avoidable, and the direct product of professional negligence at senior levels.

Stay ahead of the curve on national security, rule-of-law failures, and the places where policy, ethics, and power collide. Subscribe to The Rule of Law Brief for sharp analysis without euphemism — from someone who’s been inside the system.

Get full access to The Rule of Law Brief at natecharles.substack.com/subscribe