Stephen Miller Exerts Control on Striking Venezuelan Boats

Stephen Miller has taken charge of US military strikes against the Venezuelan boats the Trump administration says are running drugs, overshadowing Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a pronounced internal shift of power. The Homeland Security Council chaired by the senior White House adviser recently has gone from a supporting body to an autonomous entity. In one instance, officials familiar with the situation told the Guardian, key White House officials were notified of a strike only hours before it occurred, despite the Pentagon having identified the target days earlier.

This change has put Miller and his team—most notably deputy Tony Salisbury—in charge of the specifics related to targeting suspected narcotics vessels. The Trump administration maintains that these strikes are directed by President Trump and part of a unified government response; the military assets involved are considerable, including an amphibious ready group and thousands of personnel. Legal grounds for these actions remain contentious. The administration defends the strikes by citing the Article II powers and designating Venezuela's Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization—a move Miller has publicly justified by characterizing Venezuela's government as a criminal cartel. Legal experts and a federal appeals court have challenged this rationale.

Miller pushed the strikes during Trump's first term, as well. A Department of Homeland Security official recounted an exchange at that time between Miller and the then-commandant of the Coast Guard in his book, per the New Republic. Miller asked why the administration couldn't "use a Predator drone to obliterate" boats carrying migrants in international waters. The commandant said that would violate international law, Miles Taylor wrote in Blowback. Miller answered that he was interested not in "the moral conflict of drone-bombing migrants," just whether anyone could stop the US from attacking. "I don't think you understand the limitations of international law," Miller said, per Taylor.