Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., told Newsmax on Tuesday that U.S. forces do not strike suspected narco-smuggling vessels on a whim, saying the operations are based on “real intel” that identifies what boats are carrying and who operates them, a claim tied to a recent U.S. strike that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said killed three people and was the seventh such attack in recent weeks.
McCormick told “The Record With Greta Van Susteren” that U.S. military strikes on suspected drug-carrying vessels are carried out only after intelligence confirms the nature of the targets, and not “just based on a hunch.”
Asked how the government determines whether small craft are “really narco smugglers,” McCormick said, “So a lot of this is due to our intelligence gathering capabilities. Obviously, we don’t take out people just based on a hunch.”
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