Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the deadly boat strikes in the region near Venezuela and Colombia have "only just begun." This comes as Republicans and Democrats in Congress question the legality of the military action.

Washington

At a Cabinet meeting in Washington, DC, Pete Hegseth, representing the Department of War, defended recent U.S. military strikes on narco-boats near Venezuela. He reported that these actions have contributed to a 91 percent decrease in drugs trafficked by sea, attributing the success to a tougher stance on narco-terrorists and enhanced border security measures.

Hegseth also discussed broader military reforms, including increased recruitment, merit-based operations, and historic investments in next-generation capabilities. He concluded by affirming support for military commanders making operational decisions and emphasized the administration's commitment to deterrence and national security.

Hegseth defends boat strikes near Venezuela during Cabinet meeting

We'll start with Pete, and then, if you want, we'll take some questions at the end. Please, Pete. Well, thank you, Mr. President. As you said, it has been a historic year at the Department of War. Recruiting and retention over this year are at the most historic levels our country has ever seen. I had a chance to be on an aircraft carrier destroyer over Thanksgiving, the spirit in our ranks since the election under President Trump is unprecedented. I've never seen anything like it as a soldier myself in uniform, and I know a lot of you feel the same way. We've ripped out the DEI and the political correctness. It's all merit-based at the department. We're getting back to basics, accountability, training, readiness, lethality, and that's reviving that spirit. Mr. President, we're rebuilding the military, historic investments. I just took briefings on the Golden Dome and F-47, next-generation capabilities that are going to make sure that for generations to come, America has the most powerful, most capable, most lethal military in the world, which you have rebuilt once, and we're rebuilding again. And then we're reestablishing deterrence and credibility. If you look at what happened, we deal with every day the outcome of what happened in Afghanistan, the debacle under Joe Biden. We just dealt with it in the streets of Washington, D.C. with those two National Guardsmen. And then what happened on October 7th with Hamas, what happened in Ukraine, a war that never would have started under President Trump, we're having to rebuild that. So whether it's freedom of navigation and taking the fight to the Houthis, whether it's Midnight Hammer, those beautiful B-2s going 37 hours back and forth undetected, delivering with precision, and Iran not getting nuclear capabilities, Europe and NATO stepping up to 5%, locking down our southwest border. It's been an honor to work with Christy and Tom and everyone else down there to lock it to zero, operational control of our border. And then it's getting after and going after narco-terrorists and designated terrorist organizations in our own hemisphere. As I've said, and I'll say it again, we've only just begun striking narco-boats and putting narco-terrorists at the bottom of the ocean because they've been poisoning the American people. And Joe Biden tried to approach it with cake gloves and allowed them to come across the border. Cartels take over community, 20 million people, hundreds of thousands of Americans poisoned. And President Trump said, no, we're taking the gloves off. We're taking the fight to these designated terror organizations. And that's exactly what we're doing. So we're stopping the drugs, we're striking the boats, we're defeating narco-terrorists, and we're standing- You may say one thing, that drugs coming in through the sea by sea are down 91 percent. And I don't know who the 9 percent is. I'm not sure either, sir. But down 91 percent by sea. We've had a bit of a pause because it's hard to find boats to strike right now. Which is the entire point, right? Deterrence has to matter, not arrest and hand over and then do it again, the rinse and repeat approach of previous administrations. This is meant to get after that approach. And I will just end by saying, as President Trump always has our back, we always have the back of our commanders who are making decisions in difficult situations, and we do in this case and all these strikes. They're making judgment calls and ensuring that they defend the American people. They've done the right things. We'll keep doing that. And we have their backs, Mr. President. Good job.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Kremlin on Tuesday (December 2) for talks on a possible way to end the deadliest European conflict since World War Two.

Moscow

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United States President Donald Trump has said the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela is to be closed “in its entirety”, as tensions between the countries escalate. There was no immediate response by Venezuela to Trump’s social media post on Saturday.

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