Hirono, Colleagues Demand Declassification and Public Release of Legal Memo on Lethal Caribbean and East Pacific Airstrikes

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), joined Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jack Reed (D-RI), and the rest of the Democratic SASC members in writing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth requesting the declassification and public release of the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) written opinion on the Trump Administration’s lethal airstrikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

Members of the committee were finally allowed to review the Trump Administration’s classified OLC opinion in a closed setting last week. To date, the Trump Administration has carried out 21 unauthorized military strikes – primarily off the coast of Venezuela – that have killed 83 people.

“Few decisions are more consequential for a democracy than the use of lethal force. We therefore believe that the declassification and public release of this important document would enhance transparency in the use of deadly force by our Nation’s military and is necessary to ensure Congress and the American people are fully informed of the legal justification supporting these strikes,” the Senators wrote.

In addition to Senators Hirono, Blumenthal, and Reed, today’s letter was signed by Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Angus King (I-ME), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

The full text of the letter is available here and below.

Dear Attorney General Bondi and Secretary Hegseth:

We are writing to request expeditious declassification and public release of the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel’s written opinion, dated September 5, 2025, concerning the domestic and international legal basis for recent military strikes of certain vessels near South America and the Caribbean, with appropriate redactions necessary to protect military personnel and sensitive intelligence matters.

Significant and noteworthy precedent exists for the public release of OLC opinions related to overseas military action. After the United States carried out military strikes in Libya in 2011 and in Syria in 2018, the Department of Justice released the applicable OLC opinion justifying each operation.

Few decisions are more consequential for a democracy than the use of lethal force. We therefore believe that the declassification and public release of this important document would enhance transparency in the use of deadly force by our Nation’s military and is necessary to ensure Congress and the American people are fully informed of the legal justification supporting these strikes.

Sincerely,

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