A timeline of US attacks off South America and what Congress has had to say

WASHINGTON —

The Trump administration says the U.S. military has killed at least 69 people in 17 known strikes against drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since early September.

President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. He has asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But as the number of strikes has grown, a debate in Congress has escalated over the limits of the president's power. The attacks have occurred without any legal investigation or a traditional declaration of war from Congress, and some lawmaker