In a 22-page memo, T Elliot Gaiser, the top lawyer at the office of legal counsel (OLC) briefly discussed international law and the UN charter, which says a nation cannot use force inside another country without its consent, a self-defense rationale or the permission from the UN security council. But Gaiser stopped short of deciding whether the operation violated international law, arguing it did not matter as long as Donald Trump had the authority under domestic law to authorize the operation.
The legal analysis rests on a premise for which there is no immediate public evidence that the cartels are waging armed violence against the security forces of allies like Mexico, and that the violence is financed by cocaine shipments. As a result, according to the legal analysis, the strikes are targeting the cocaine, and the deaths of anyone on board should be treated as an enemy casualty or collateral damage if any civilians are killed, rather than murder.