WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has determined the United States is engaged in “a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels, according to a document notifying Congress of its legal justification for deadly U.S. strikes on boats off Venezuela.

The text of the document, which was reviewed by Reuters on Thursday, was briefed to lawmakers by the Pentagon’s top attorney this week as experts question the legality of killing suspected drug traffickers at sea instead of apprehending them and their cargo.

The U.S. military has blown up at least three suspected drug boats in the past month and killed at least 17 people, in what critics say is the latest effort by Trump to test the scope of his powers as U.S. president. The document describes those killed as “unlawful combatants.”

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