Name: U.S. used painted aircraft resembling civilian plane in boat strike
Uploaded: 2026-01-14T19:51:10.460Z
Duration: 2 min 35 s
Description: The U.S. military used an aircraft painted like a civilian plane during its deadly Sept. 2 attack targeting a boat allegedly transporting drugs, officials say. CBS News Pentagon reporter Eleanor Watson has more.

The U.S. military used an aircraft painted like a civilian plane during its deadly Sept. 2 attack targeting a boat allegedly transporting drugs, officials say. CBS News Pentagon reporter Eleanor Watson has more.

CBS News has confirmed that during a U.S. military strike on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, the aircraft used was painted to resemble a civilian plane. This detail has prompted scrutiny on Capitol Hill regarding whether the action violated the law of war, specifically the prohibition against perfidy, which forbids disguising military assets as civilian.

The Pentagon maintains that the aircraft choice was mission-specific and not intended to deceive, but lawmakers and experts remain unconvinced. The incident, which resulted in eleven deaths, is under investigation, and there is growing support in Congress for increased oversight of military actions and executive war powers.

U.S. used painted aircraft resembling civilian plane in boat strike

Following a series of deadly U.S. military strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, two officials now confirmed to CBS that the aircraft in that September strike was painted so that people in that boat would look up and think it was a civilian plane. Eleven people died in the water that day, CBS News Pentagon reporter Eleanor Watson following that discovery. So Eleanor, this has prompted conversations on Capitol Hill about whether the attack violated the laws of war. What are you hearing? Well, the Pentagon, in a statement, says that they use a variety of aircraft and ensure that all of them comply with the law of war. But, as you mentioned, this attack, this new detail has raised additional questions of whether that September 2nd strike violated a specific part of the law of war called perfidy, which essentially means disguising yourself as a civilian, which is a protected status under the law of war, to deceive and to surprise the enemy. The Pentagon said the choice of this aircraft, the Pentagon has been telling the Hill that the choice of this aircraft was specific to the mission. It wasn't the intent to deceive. But that hasn't satisfied many experts or many Democrats, including Senator Richard Blumenthal, who yesterday, in general, questioned the legality of some of the aircraft the military uses and called for a full investigation. Now, remember, Reid, this strike on September 2nd was already under heavy scrutiny after it was revealed that the U.S. forces did essentially what is called a double-tap strike that killed survivors of the initial attack. OK, so how would what is going on in Congress relative to the War Powers Act influence any disclosure on this case? We know that there are some lawmakers, Republicans among them, who would like to see legislation passed that would make it so that the president had to go through Congress before any strike, including one like this. Well, previous resolutions, Reid, that had pertained to boat strikes did not pass. This resolution, as far as I understand that's going forward in Congress today, would pertain to more action in Venezuela. It passed several steps already, but it's unlikely to get to the president's desk and be signed and doesn't have the support to override his veto. But as these resolutions keep coming up, there is additional support for reigning in the administration and at least making the administration tell Congress more of what its plans are in the region. It really takes the temperature of our elected officials in Washington about whether they want to cede power to the executive branch. Eleanor Watson, Fascinating Developments, thank you so much for that.

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