The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) of the Department of Justice wrote a legal recommendation on the United States military's air strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific, but the administration of President Donald Trump has kept such a recommendation secret.

So far, according to official reports, the 21 military actions against Alleged drug-trafficking vessels, also called narco-terrorist vessels, have killed 83 people, sparking concerns about violations of international laws on operations in open waters and human rights. Following the failed attempt in the Senate to pass a motion to limit the Trump Administration's military actions, a group of senators are launching a new effort requesting transparency regarding the legal opinion of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OLC). “Few decisions are more consequential for a democracy than the use of lethal force,” says a letter signed by Democrats who are part of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We believe that the declassification and release of this important document [the legal opinion] would improve transparency regarding the use of lethal force by our nation’s armed forces and is necessary to ensure that Congress and the American people are fully informed of the legal justification behind these attacks.” This new effort is being led by Senators Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut) and Jack Reed (Rhode Island), the ranking member of the Committee. The request is addressed to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. “We are writing to request the expedited declassification and release of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel’s written opinion, dated September 5, 2025, on the domestic and international legal basis for the recent military attacks on certain vessels near South America and the Caribbean,” the senators wrote.

They add that transparency regarding the legal justification would help in understanding the actions, as occurred in other instances concerning military operations in Libya and Syria.

“There is a significant and noteworthy precedent for the release of Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinions related to military actions abroad,” the letter states. “Following the U.S. military strikes in Libya in 2011 and in Syria in 2018, the Department of Justice released the corresponding OLC opinion justifying each operation.”

What has the Trump administration provided?

The senators acknowledge that members of the Senate Armed Services Committee were able to review the classified OLC opinion behind closed doors, but its transparency to the public would be important.

“Few decisions are more consequential for a democracy than the use of lethal force,” the senators argued. “Therefore, we believe that the declassification and release of this important document would improve transparency regarding the use of lethal force by our nation’s armed forces and is necessary to ensure that Congress and the American people are fully informed of the legal justification behind these attacks.” The attacks on vessels have sparked international concern, with negative reactions from organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and even the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Vokker Turk, who called on the Trump administration to end such a military strategy. “These attacks and their escalating human cost are unacceptable. The United States must stop these attacks and take all necessary measures to prevent the extrajudicial killings of people on board these vessels,” the High Commissioner said in late October. “The United States’ airstrikes against vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific violate international human rights law.”

The letter was also signed by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire), Kirsten Gillibrand (New York), Mazie K. Hirono (Hawaii), Tim Kaine (Virginia), Angus King (Maine), Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), Gary Peters (Michigan), Tammy Duckworth (Illinois), Jacky Rosen (Nevada), Mark Kelly (Arizona), and Elissa Slotkin (Michigan).

Senator Kelly’s Case

Kelly, one of the senators who signed the petition to the Department of Justice, is currently facing possible military justice proceedings after he and five Democratic colleagues released a video calling on members of the military to refuse orders they believe violate the law.

The legislators did not specify which orders they were referring to,But there is a national controversy—with even court decisions—over the deployment of the National Guard in several US cities, in addition to the extrajudicial attacks against ships whose legal basis is in question. “Our laws are clear. They can reject illegal orders,” Kelly says in the video criticized by President Trump.