The Standing

A daily, non-partisan record of US democratic norms — and the events that erode them.

    Joint Task Force Southern Spear strike kills two in the eastern Pacific

    On Feb. 5, 2026, at the direction of U.S. Southern Command commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that SOUTHCOM alleged — without presenting evidence and without interdiction, arrest, or judicial process — was operated by a designated terrorist organization. Two people were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed. The strike is part of the open-ended Operation Southern Spear campaign of lethal strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats.

    Part of: SouthCom Pacific Drug-Boat Strike Campaign

    Jurisdiction
    federal
    Location
    Eastern Pacific Ocean (international waters)

    Abuses documented

    Actors

    • U.S. Southern Command (Gen. Francis L. Donovan, commander)
    • Joint Task Force Southern Spear
    • U.S. Department of Defense

    On February 5, 2026, at the direction of U.S. Southern Command commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted what SOUTHCOM termed a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean. SOUTHCOM alleged the boat was operated by a designated terrorist organization and was transiting known narco-trafficking routes, but presented no public evidence and made no attempt at interdiction, arrest, or any judicial process. Two people aboard were killed; no U.S. military forces were harmed. The strike came the same day Gen. Donovan formally assumed command of SOUTHCOM.

    The strike is one in U.S. Southern Command's open-ended Operation Southern Spear campaign of lethal strikes on vessels it alleges are operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations along narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The campaign has killed scores of people on the assertion of officials, without charges, trials, or congressional authorization for the use of military force — raising both extrajudicial-killing concerns and concerns about the use of uniformed armed forces for lethal counter-narcotics operations.

    The Standing records this as the chronologically earliest Southern Spear strike in the archive of this campaign, predating the already-recorded Feb. 9, Feb. 13, Feb. 16, Feb. 20, and Feb. 23 strikes. It is grouped with those entries in the southcom-drug-boat-strikes episode, documenting a sustained pattern of lethal force applied outside any judicial process.

    Why we recorded this

    A foundational rule of constitutional government is that the state may not punish people — least of all kill them — without lawful process, and that the decision to use military force belongs to Congress, not to the armed forces acting on an official's say-so. Extrajudicial action is the government imposing a sanction, here lethal force, on people who have had no charge, no trial, and no chance to answer the accusation against them. We record this because U.S. Southern Command killed two people aboard a boat it merely asserted was operated by a designated terrorist organization, with no evidence presented, no attempt at interdiction or arrest, and no congressional authorization for hostilities. Turning uniformed forces to lethal counter-narcotics action on the assertion of officials, rather than proving guilt in court, erases the line between law enforcement and unchecked force.

    Sources

    1. Lethal Kinetic Strike, Feb. 5, 2026 — U.S. Southern Command primary accessed June 14, 2026
    2. US strikes another boat in the eastern Pacific, killing 2 — CNN secondary accessed June 14, 2026
    3. Timeline of Boat Strikes and Related Actions — Just Security secondary accessed June 14, 2026

    See also