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The Just Security Podcast: Murder on the High Seas Part VI

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Published on August 31, 2026

Editor’s Note

This is part of Just Security’s Collection: U.S. Lethal Strikes on Suspected Drug Traffickers, Operation Southern Spear, Operation Absolute Resolve.

Listen to the Episode:

 

Co-Hosts Tess Bridgeman and Rachel Goldbrenner are joined by Rebecca Ingber and Brian Finucane to discuss how the Trump administration’s campaign of lethal strikes against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific has escalated and evolved in the year since the strikes began. The conversation examines the administration’s legal justifications for the strikes, the potential for escalation to targets on land, and what the creation of Joint Task Force – Western Hemisphere could mean for the campaign’s future. 

This installment is part six of the “Murder on the High Seas” series, produced in collaboration with the Reiss Center on Law and Security.

Show Notes:

Previously on “Murder on the High Seas”

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About the Authors

Rebecca Ingber

Rebecca Ingber (Bluesky - LinkedIn - X) is a Professor of Law at Cardozo Law School, Co-Director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy, and a senior fellow at the Reiss Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law. From 2021 to 2023, Ingber served as the Counselor on International Law in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State. She is a Member of the Just Security Editorial Board.

Brian Finucane

Brian Finucane (Bluesky - LinkedIn) is senior adviser with the U.S. Program at the International Crisis Group and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Reiss Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law. Prior to joining Crisis Group in 2021, he served as an attorney-adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State.

Tess Bridgeman

Tess Bridgeman (Bluesky - LinkedIn) is co-editor-in-chief of Just Security and Senior Fellow and Visiting Scholar at the Reiss Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law. She previously served as Special Assistant to the President, Associate Counsel to the President, and Deputy Legal Adviser to the National Security Council (NSC) in the Obama Administration, and at the U.S. State Department in the Office of the Legal Adviser.

Rachel Goldbrenner

Rachel Goldbrenner (LinkedIn) is the Executive Director of the Reiss Center on Law and Security and Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU School of Law. She previously served as Senior Policy Advisor to the Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, and director for multilateral affairs and human rights at the National Security Council.

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