On Friday, Senators Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Roger Wicker of Mississippi urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide them with documentation regarding the recent military directives targeting boats in the Caribbean. These operations, as stated by the Trump administration, aimed to combat drug trafficking.

The senators made their appeal through two letters directed to Secretary Hegseth. The first letter, dated September 23, underscored the legal obligation for congressional oversight of military execution orders (EXORDS). According to the requirements outlined, these orders must be submitted to the relevant defense committees within 15 days of their issuance.

“Regrettably, the Department has not met this obligation,” the letter highlighted.

In a second letter sent on October 6, the senators requested a written legal opinion from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. This opinion should clarify the legal grounds, whether domestic or international, for carrying out these strikes and associated operations.

Additionally, the senators asked for a comprehensive list of all terrorist and drug trafficking organizations that the President has identified as targets in a non-international armed conflict, against which lethal military force can be employed.

“To date, these documents have not been submitted,” according to a Friday statement from Reed’s office.

Tensions continue to escalate between the United States and Venezuela as the Trump administration conducts strikes against alleged narco-trafficking boats. The deployment of warships, surveillance planes and fighter aircraft, along with covert CIA operations in Venezuela seemingly authorized by President Trump, has resulted in speculation around potential military operations aimed at the South American country.

Trump and his close allies have raised the prospects of the U.S. conducting land strikes in Venezuela. The administration has reportedly accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of controlling the transnational criminal gang Tren de Aragua, designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization.

While The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration identified military facilities in Venezuela used to smuggle narcotics as potential targets for attack, Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday called the reporting on the U.S. deciding to conduct an attack “a fake story.”

Earlier in the day, Trump said it’s “not true” that the U.S. was planning to strike Venezuela.

A YouGov poll on Friday showed that 42 percent of Americans oppose military intervention in Venezuela, while 27 percent support it. A majority of those polled oppose a land invasion, the boat strikes and the deployment of U.S. Navy vessels in the waters surrounding the country.