Ryan Goodman
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Ryan Goodman
@rgoodlaw.bsky.social

https://www.youtube.com/@RGoodLaw

Co-editor-in-chief @justsecurity.org. Chaired Prof at NYU Law. Former Chaired Prof Harvard. Former Special Counsel Defense Dept.

https://www.justsecurity.org/author/goodmanryan

Ryan Goodman is an American legal scholar who is the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and is the founding co-editor-in-chief of its website Just Security, which focuses on U.S. national security law and policy. Goodman joined the NYU faculty in 2009. .. more

Political science 68%
Sociology 13%
Pinned
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What Senator Cotton says here would be a bad defense for the Germans convicted in WWI and WWII war crimes trials -- including for firing on shipwrecked in fully operational lifeboats.

This line of response hurts the US and US servicemembers. It will cause long-term damage unless we get this right.
WELKER: Lawmakers say the 2 men appeared to raise their arms potentially to surrender. Why did Admiral Bradley interpret these actions as anything other than them trying to survive?

TOM COTTON: They were sitting or standing on top of a capsized boat. They weren't floating helplessly in the water
WELKER: Lawmakers say the 2 men appeared to raise their arms potentially to surrender. Why did Admiral Bradley interpret these actions as anything other than them trying to survive?

TOM COTTON: They were sitting or standing on top of a capsized boat. They weren't floating helplessly in the water

"We are told there is a legal opinion from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel justifying the lethal boat strikes, but the opinion is classified ...

Any such opinion must discuss constitutional law, and constitutional law is not classified."

- Jeh Johnon op-ed
Opinion | Not All Targeted Killings Are the Same. Hegseth’s Boat Strikes Are Illegal.
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

For policymakers, lawmakers, commentators and the public:

We provide a detailed review of the international law relevant to lethal operations against suspected drug boats

I teamed up with @mikeschmitt.bsky.social and @tessbridgeman.bsky.social
Operation Southern Spear: Why the Crews, Drugs, and Boats are Not Targetable
A deep dive on the international law applicable to the U.S. military's lethal operations against suspected drug boats
www.justsecurity.org

6/ Finally, your reminder that Hegseth said Bradley acted within the authority Hegseth gave him and that, in retrospect, Bradley made the "correct decision."

5/ Why is Bradley saying his decision was based on this?:

<<while the survivors were not armed, he said the mission identified the drugs as the threat to the U.S., effectively deeming the cocaine as the weapon that could endanger Americans>>

He told lawmakers the drugs were headed to Europe/Africa

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

4/ Also why is Bradley saying they were not visibly injured but were still on the list of approved targets.

Hors de combat is hors de combat. List doesn't affect that.

WWII Germans could have a list of American soldiers who can be killed. But if they're shipwrecked, killing them is a war crime.

3/ If this reporting is correct, DoD killed 2 shipwrecked (hors de combat) just to eliminate remaining possible bags of cocaine that might be picked up.

2/ "Bradley told the lawmakers the boat was eventually heading to Europe or Africa."

Mind-blowing.

Then the 11 people were engaged in "war sustaining" activities on best reading in favor of DoD. Clearly civilians not engaged in combat activities under DoD's own view of law.
Admiral told lawmakers everyone on alleged drug boat was on a list of military targets
Adm. Frank Bradley said U.S. intelligence had identified the 11 people on the boat and determined the military was authorized to kill them as part of Trump’s campaign against alleged drug-smuggling ve...
www.nbcnews.com
"Bradley told lawmakers that the orders he received from Hegseth were to kill the individuals on the approved target list, which included everyone on the boat, then destroy the drugs and sink the boat, those sources said."

They were civilians.
Admiral told lawmakers everyone on alleged drug boat was on a list of military targets
Adm. Frank Bradley said U.S. intelligence had identified the 11 people on the boat and determined the military was authorized to kill them as part of Trump’s campaign against alleged drug-smuggling ve...
www.nbcnews.com

4/ GOP Chair Wicker and Ranking Member Reed, Senate Armed Services, "requested copies of the execute orders related to the strikes in September, without success. ... Bradley supported sharing the materials when asked by lawmakers Thursday but noted that he alone was not authorized to release them."

3/ "Rep. Don Bacon (Nebraska), a member of the Armed Services Committee and a rare Republican who has openly criticized Hegseth, said he supported releasing the video of the Sept. 2 operation and called on Holsey to meet with the committee."

2/ "A spokesperson for Rep. Adam Smith (Washington), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said that panel also requested briefings with U.S. Southern Command, though not with Holsey specifically."

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Democrats press for expanding inquiry into Caribbean boat strike
Republican leaders have neither ruled out nor committed to launching a fuller investigation after revelations that U.S. forces killed two survivors of the attack.
www.washingtonpost.com

A step in the right direction

"The Senate Armed Services Committee ... has asked Adm. Alvin Holsey ... to testify before the committee next week, according to Blumenthal and another person familiar with the matter."

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Democrats press for expanding inquiry into Caribbean boat strike
Republican leaders have neither ruled out nor committed to launching a fuller investigation after revelations that U.S. forces killed two survivors of the attack.
www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Ryan Goodman

... (ii) that Boasberg's orders were best or most farily read not to prohibit such transfers; nor even, and most importantly, (iii) *that she thought the transfers were lawful*. [2]

Reposted by Ryan Goodman

What's most revealing about Sec. Noem's declaration is what's *not* there: She *doesn't* attest (i) that she concluded Judge Boasberg intended not to prohibit transfer of the detainees to El Salvador; ...[1]

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

@justsecurity.org
Declaration of Secretary Noem – #198, Att. #1 in J.G.G. v. TRUMP (D.D.C., 1:25-cv-00766) – CourtListener.com
NOTICE of Filing of Declarations in Response to Court's December 1 Order by PAMELA J. BONDI, PETER B. HEGSETH, KRISTI NOEM, MARCO A. RUBIO, MADISON SHEAHAN, DONALD J. TRUMP, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE...
storage.courtlistener.com

6/ CNN confirms:

"The survivors were also waving at something in the air, the sources said Bradley told them, although it’s unclear whether they might have been surrendering or asking the US aircraft they had spotted for help."

By @natashabertrand.bsky.social
Exclusive: Boat at center of double-tap strike controversy was meeting vessel headed to Suriname, admiral told lawmakers | CNN Politics
The alleged drug traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on September 2 were heading to link up with another, larger vessel that was bound for Suriname — a small South American country east ...
www.cnn.com

5/

Wrong drugs
Wrong direction
Excellent reporting from @charliesavage.bsky.social and @julianbarnes.bsky.social starting with the "plain reality" that there was no warship, and no fighting going on, in the Sept. 2 strike, or any of them:

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...

1/2

2/ source

Exclusive: Boat at center of double-tap strike controversy was meeting vessel headed to Suriname, admiral told lawmakers

By @natashabertrand.bsky.social
Exclusive: Boat at center of double-tap strike controversy was meeting vessel headed to Suriname, admiral told lawmakers | CNN Politics
The alleged drug traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on September 2 were heading to link up with another, larger vessel that was bound for Suriname — a small South American country east ...
www.cnn.com

Reposted by Simon Lester

On left:

President Trump Statement Sept. 2, 2025:

"The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in international waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States."

On right:

(Under penalty of law) military leaders told Congress headed to Suriname.

4/ I would love to know how the secret DOJ Office of Legal Counsel Opinion tries to get around such facts of heading away from the United States (to Suriname) and most likely onto Europe.

Or the military ops maybe don't match the secret legal justifications.

Reposted by Mary L. Dudziak

3/ And, yes, the administration's attempted constitutional and other legal claims unravel if boats are delivering drugs (let alone, cocaine not fentanyl) to Europe instead.

2/ Problems for Bradley's credibility.

On left:

Bradley argued to lawmakers was "still a possibility" drugs could've ultimately made way to US.

On right:

Trump State Department: "Suriname is a transit country for South American cocaine, the majority of which is likely destined for Europe."

Reposted by Mary L. Dudziak

How is U.S. military killing these 11 people keeping drugs (fentanyl) out of the United States?

USG knew the drugs (cocaine) were headed to Suriname.

Yes, that's the OTHER DIRECTION.

Read what Bradley-Caine told lawmakers:

Scoop by @natashabertrand.bsky.social

🧵 1/
Exclusive: Boat at center of double-tap strike controversy was meeting vessel headed to Suriname, admiral told lawmakers | CNN Politics
The alleged drug traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on September 2 were heading to link up with another, larger vessel that was bound for Suriname — a small South American country east ...
www.cnn.com

2/2 On the latter point about POTUS needing affirmative authorization, big recommend:

Dissecting the Trump Administration’s Effort to Circumvent the War Powers Resolution for Boat Strikes
By @bcfinucane.bsky.social
Dissecting the Trump Administration’s Effort to Circumvent the War Powers Resolution for Boat Strikes
Analysis of Trump administration's claim that War Powers Resolution's regulating US troops in "hostilities" does not apply to boat strikes.
www.justsecurity.org

It's important to recognize great journalism when you see it

Kudos to @JohnBerman for this well-informed series of questions

One note: Sen. Cotton is wrong at end. POTUS needs affirmative authorization from Congress under the War Powers Resolution. Current ops are illegal.

1/2
wow -- John Berman demolished Tom Cotton in this interview

5/ source (Gift Link):

Video of Boat Strike Shows Survivors Waving Before Fatal Follow-Up Attack
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/u...
Video of Boat Strike Shows Survivors Waving Before Fatal Follow-Up Attack
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Aviel Roshwald

4/ Even worse on these officials account, it seems if the third view is correct, that was a reason to kill the survivors.

You read that right, and I am not exaggerating.⤵️

A shipwrecked person beckoning others to come rescue them is a basis for killing them.

3/ "But some lawmakers viewing the video rejected that interpretation. There were no other unknown aircraft or boats in visual range, and no other boats involved in drug trafficking could have rescued them."

And even worse, if I am understanding this logic correctly, ...