The suggestion that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or his officials targeted shipwrecked survivors has been galvanizing because that would apparently be a war crime even if one accepts Trump officials’ broader argument for the strike campaign.
Former officials said the C.I.A. diligently assessed those who partnered with its forces, like the man accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington.
John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, said the man accused of shooting two National Guard members, an Afghan who had worked with U.S. forces during the war in his country, “should have never been allowed to come here.”
President Trump said days earlier that the United States could “very soon” expand its campaign of killing people at sea suspected of drug trafficking to attacking Venezuelan territory.