Montana’s Republican Senator, Tim Leahy, stands out with a remarkable and diverse background. A former cattle rancher, firefighter, Naval Academy alumnus, and Navy SEAL officer, he holds the distinction of being the youngest Republican in the U.S. Senate. His varied experiences provide him with valuable perspectives, especially regarding the Trump administration’s strategy of destroying drug-laden boats headed to the U.S. from countries like Venezuela.

Many support the idea of curbing drug smuggling by sinking these vessels, yet Senator Sheehy has addressed the criticisms from those who argue for capturing rather than obliterating these threats. His legal and practical viewpoints counter the concerns surrounding such operations. Here’s what he had to say:

The Senator remarked:

In any military mission, when shots are fired, our primary objective is ensuring all our personnel return safely. If adversaries don’t make it back, it’s unfortunate for them.

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 16, 2025

The Senator said:

To go after Admiral Bradley, go after the brave men and women in uniform who are conducting these attacks, is to indict the very system that was used, bipartisanly, for the last 24 years. I personally was involved in many of these operations. From kinetic strikes to direct action operations. And the process we have, is legally sound. It’s been supported by legal opinions for a quarter-century now of how we find these people, we fix them, and we finish them. And keep in mind, if we don’t drop a bomb, and we decide to interdict, as is being said by many folks we have an obligation to send a team in and interdict. When we make that decision, you’re putting our lives at risk. You’re putting American lives at risk. Just about a year and a half ago, you remember two SEALS were killed interdicting a vessel at night in the Red Sea. 

Interdicting a vessel underway is perhaps the most dangerous mission we have in our entire military inventory. When we task our commanders to go out and attack a vessel underway, that’s an incredibly high-risk mission. So when folks say, “Oh, we should be interdicting,” that’s easy for you to say here in this building, between two cups of cappuccino. It’s a lot harder to send that 24-year-old operator out there, who’s got a wife and kids, and tell him in the middle of the night, you’ve got to fast rappel out of a helicopter, scuba dive under a ship, climb up the side of that, and fight your way onto a vessel, because we’re more worried about the lives of drug dealers than we are our own people. And that’s a high-risk mission. 

In any military operation, in any instance where bullets are launched, there’s one goal: All our people come home safe. If the bad guys don’t, too bad.