President Donald Trump
never told Congress about a disastrous 2019 intelligence mission targeting
North Korea that turned deadly, The New York Times reported
Friday.
The Times spoke with two dozen people with knowledge of the incident, which had never been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government.
In 2018, SEAL Team 6 was
charged with planting an electronic device that could intercept communications
from the reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, amid high-level talks
between the United States and North Korea. In early 2019, the SEALs set out toward North
Korea in a nuclear submarine, and Trump gave the final go-ahead to proceed with
the mission.
After breaking off in
mini-submarines and swimming to shore, the SEALs spotted a North Korean vessel
close to the mini-subs. Unsure whether they’d been spotted, the SEALs opened
fire, killing everyone on board.
Upon inspection the
SEALs found no weapons or uniforms on the boat, and determined that the two or
three North Korean crew members had been civilians diving for shellfish,
according to officials briefed on the mission. The bodies were pulled into the
water, the mission was aborted, and the SEALs escaped unharmed.
A classified military
review found that the killing of civilians was justified under the rules of
engagement, but the Trump administration never told congressional committees
overseeing military and intelligence about the operation, or the military
review.
Matthew Waxman, a law
professor at Columbia University who served in senior positions at the State
Department, the Department of Defense, and the National Security Council under
President George W. Bush, told the Times that Trump’s failure to report
to Congress may have violated federal law, which places a burden on the
executive to notify Congress of consequential missions.
A former government
official told the Times that key members of Congress had eventually been
briefed on the mission by former President Joe Biden in 2021. The review
remains classified.
The incident raises
concerns about the efficacy of SEAL Team 6, which has been criticized for its
uneven track record and for staging overly complicated missions. It seems
that despite rehearsing for months, the SEALs had no contingency plan for
spotting groups of civilians fishing, besides cold-blooded murder. They were
then shielded from all accountability for the incident, and many involved in
the mission were later promoted, the Times reported.
This latest Times
report follows another murky military action rubber-stamped by Trump earlier
this week, when the Pentagon carried out a deadly strike on a boat officials
claimed was carrying drugs. Not only has the Trump administration struggled to keep its story straight, but it has failed to provide any legal authority for the strike,
let alone any evidence to back up its claim that the crew members were so-called
“narco terrorists.”
The post Trump Never Told Congress About Disastrous SEAL Mission in North Korea appeared first on New Republic.
