A May essay outlining ways foreign governments could investigate and potentially prosecute Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and senior U.S. military commanders is receiving renewed attention as Hegseth faces an impeachment effort in Congress.
The May 27 article, published by the national security legal site Just Security, examines potential international and foreign legal avenues targeting American officials involved in U.S. strikes against suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific.
The essay was written by Tracey Begley, Benjamin R. Farley and Sarah Harrison, all of whom have backgrounds in national security or government service.
Harrison served in the Defense Department during the Obama administration, while Farley previously worked at the State Department.
The authors argue that the Trump administration’s boat-strike campaign amounts to unlawful killings, a conclusion disputed by the administration, which has defended the operations as lawful actions against designated trafficking organizations.
The essay goes considerably further than simply criticizing the policy, laying out possible methods foreign governments could use to pursue criminal accountability against American officials.
The authors argue that countries whose citizens were killed could use their domestic criminal laws to investigate potential murder or attempted-murder cases.
They specifically suggest that governments do not necessarily need to act while President Donald Trump remains in office.
“Officials in Colombia, Ecuador, or other affected States could quietly gather evidence of the crimes and wait to issue indictments until Trump is out of office, and the White House is not occupied by the president who ordered the killings,” the authors wrote.
The essay identifies Hegseth and two senior military commanders as possible targets of such investigations.
The authors name Hegseth, U.S. Special Operations Command chief Adm. Frank Bradley and U.S. Southern Command commander Gen. Francis Donovan as “high-level potential perpetrators” based on their alleged roles directing the operations.
They argue that public statements and information released by the Trump administration could potentially provide foreign investigators with evidence.
The essay also discusses converting national arrest warrants into international warrants or seeking extradition.
“Doing this increases the potential for criminal liability, which is critical to imposing some kind of consequence–even if the consequences are merely the perpetrators’ self-imposed travel restrictions to avoid arrest, along with public condemnation,” the authors wrote.
Another potential avenue discussed is “universal jurisdiction,” which allows certain countries to prosecute specified international crimes even when those crimes were allegedly committed outside their territory.
According to the authors, 99 United Nations member states have universal-jurisdiction statutes covering crimes against humanity.
“Theoretically, at least the three U.S. officials already identified could be held accountable for crimes against humanity in a State with universal jurisdiction,” they wrote.
The article acknowledges significant obstacles, including securing evidence, establishing jurisdiction, obtaining custody of American officials and convincing foreign governments to pursue politically explosive prosecutions against senior U.S. officials.
It also examines potential action through the Inter-American human rights system, International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court, while conceding that some of those avenues offer limited prospects for individual prosecutions.
The renewed attention comes as Hegseth faces a separate impeachment effort led by Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and supported by Democrats.
Hegseth has strongly rejected accusations that his military actions constitute impeachable conduct.
He recently characterized the impeachment case as involving “policy disagreements, not misdemeanors, not treason, not bribery, not the kinds of offenses the founders intended when they wrote the impeachment clause.”
Hegseth also said he stands “behind every one” of the military operations carried out under Trump’s orders and “would do it again tomorrow.”
President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson have all publicly defended Hegseth.
The Just Security article does not itself initiate any criminal proceeding, and none of its proposals establishes criminal liability.
Instead, it presents a legal roadmap its authors believe foreign governments could potentially pursue — including quietly gathering evidence now and waiting years before attempting to prosecute senior American officials.
