NSL4A Member Major General Steven Lepper, USAF (Ret) Discusses Military Attacks on Suspected Drug Boats with Callers
Former Air Force Deputy Judge Advocate General, Major General Lepper, joins Kimberly Adams on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal to answer questions from callers on the legality of the ongoing U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats off the coast of Venezuela.
Maj. Gen. Steven Lepper (Ret.), a former Air Force judge advocate, discusses his military legal background and his role in the Former JAGs Working Group, which formed after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired top military lawyers. He says the group united to counter dangerous messaging suggesting that military lawyers hinder operations or that law shouldn’t constrain warfare.
Lepper sharply criticizes the legality of the recent U.S. strikes on alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, arguing:
There is no “non-international armed conflict.” Drug runners are civilians committing crimes, not combatants.
Using lethal military force here amounts to extrajudicial killing under international law and murder under U.S. law.
The reported “double tap” strike is especially unlawful. Survivors of a destroyed vessel are considered shipwrecked persons who must be protected — not targeted.
He rejects Secretary Hegseth’s claims about removing “stupid rules of engagement,” saying that what separates honorable military service from murder or terrorism is adherence to law and the principle of honor — something he believes is absent from Hegseth’s framing.
