Rebecca Ingber

Senator Slotkin asks Army GC nominee about how many "designated terrorist organizations" the US is now supposedly in an armed conflict with and whether he can name them.

Army GC nominee refuses to answer.

Administration refuses to tell American public and Congress who POTUS has declared war on.

We lawyers keep saying there is no limiting principle to the Administration’s legal theory on these boat strikes, but as usual the Onion captures it:

One job

TLDL: still murder after all these weeks

The Crisis in Uniform: The Danger of Presidential Immunity for the U.S. Military Military personnel are increasingly aware that they may be asked to prioritize loyalty to an individual over their rights and responsibilities

Hard to imagine a more important piece right now:

News of the DOJ OLC memo justifying these strikes broke just after we wrapped. But we already knew the govt’s legal theory — and carefully debunked it:

The Just Security Podcast: Murder on the High Seas Part II -- What We Know about U.S. Vessel Strikes One Month In Tess Bridgeman and Rachel Goldbrenner are joined by Rebecca Ingber and Brian Finucane to analyze the U.S. military campaign in the Caribbean.

Murder on the High Seas Part II: What We Know about U.S. Vessel Strikes One Month In

@tessbridgeman.bsky.social and Rachel Goldbrenner are joined by @becingber.bsky.social and @bcfinucane.bsky.social to analyze the U.S. military campaign in the Caribbean.

www.justsecurity.org/122025/podca...

Of course, it's an even bigger deal that the President is in fact authorizing these murders.

It's a pretty big deal that the NYC Bar Association--one of the most prominent and respected bar associations in the country--is accusing the President of ordering the "unlawful summary execution," i.e. murder--of civilians in violation of US and international law. www.nycbar.org/press-releas...

Proud to endorse this @nycbarassociation.bsky.social statement condemning the unlawful summary executions carried out by the U.S. Government. The attacks on Venezuelan vessels violate U.S. and international law. www.nycbar.org/press-releas....

They’ve been more competent than I expected :(

Four more people were killed this morning.

To repeat:

- If it can happen at sea, it can happen anywhere

- Trump has offered no definition or limiting principle for who can be labeled a "terrorist" and summarily killed

- And no plausible legal theory for why an armed conflict exists

Earlier this morning, on President Trump's orders, I directed a lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility. Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike, and no U.S. forces were harmed in the operation. The strike was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics - headed to America to poison our people. Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route. These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!

Further premeditated killing by the Trump administration.

Labelling the victims of these strikes as "narco-terrorists" does not magically make these attacks legal.

What the Senate Judiciary Committee Should Ask A.G. Bondi on Drug Cartel Strikes Annotated questions the Senate Judiciary Committee could ask Attorney General Pam Bondi on lethal strikes against drug cartels.

Mary McCord, former Acting Assistant AG for National Security, and I teamed up on Qs Senators should ask #Bondi at her Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, on strikes that have killed 17 people to date.

The implications are serious. Consider a few of the Qs:

www.justsecurity.org/121862/ask-b...

If the US starts taking these strikes in Venezuela, that itself may be an armed attack, and they may start an armed conflict with Venezuela.

But none of this turns drug smuggling into hostilities under the laws of war or the people who engage in it into combatants.

This is not the first time Trump has claimed war in order to hurt people but the words alone don’t make it legal.

There has been no armed attack here from a state or armed group. There have been no hostilities (other than from us). There is no organized armed group fighting us, and no combatants.

Would like to know how this intersects with Hegseth’s “maximum lethality” and no “mission creep”

Gift link here:

This may be what they want to say, but it is not a legally available option. Furthermore, none of these arguments would justify the targeted killing of civilians — which is what mere drug smugglers would be in such a scenario

Top Trump Aides Push for Ousting Maduro From Power in Venezuela

To be clear, the USG cannot use recognition of a different govt pre-textually as means of getting around the UN Charter prohibition on the use of force against another state

Cost: 270 electoral votes

Labeling domestic political opponents as "terrorists" and characterizing a US city as being at war as pretexts for deploying troops against US citizens.

White House to rebrand Pentagon the Department of War The name change would likely require an act of Congress, although the White House is looking for ways to avoid a vote.

But let’s spend a billion dollars to rebrand DOD.

Disease research, anti-corruption and fraud monitoring, contract tracking, student loan access, diplomacy, soft power, intelligence, watchdogs who make sure the govt itself is not corrupt —

Poof

Former Federal Workers on the Cost of Trump's Cuts (Gift Article) The New York Times photographed and interviewed two dozen former federal workers from across the country to get a sense of what they left behind and what they face next.

“All of the work that I have done in my career is being flushed down the toilet.”

One in eight federal workers—along with all their expertise—gone by the end of December.

Gift article:

Truth social post by Donald Trump imposing tariff on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities under justification of national security

DESIGNATING SHELVING AS A FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION
Executive Orders
September 25, 2025

White House to agencies: Prepare mass firing plans for a potential shutdown — POLITICO In memo, the Trump administration says the Reduction-in-Force plans would go beyond standard shutdown furloughs.

I see the White House is now using civil servants as a human shield against Congress

Same!