Did Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove say authorities shouldn’t bother ceasing drugs at sea anymore, or seizing drugs at sea anymore?
Executive summary
Reporting from Reuters and NPR shows Emil Bove, while serving as acting Deputy Attorney General, told DOJ prosecutors on multiple occasions in late 2024–early 2025 that the U.S. “should … sink the boats” — a comment witnesses interpreted as signaling the administration was no longer focused on traditional interdictions at sea that seize drugs and prosecute crews [1] [2]. Multiple attendees said it was unclear whether Bove meant sinking after seizure or sinking instead of seizing and prosecuting; outlets quote three or more witnesses describing the remarks and their link to later strikes on suspected drug vessels [1] [2].
1. What Bove reportedly said and how witnesses described it
Three witnesses told Reuters that Bove “told employees the government should just ‘sink the boats’ rather than prosecute the people on board,” and Reuters reported he made similar remarks on at least three occasions between November 2024 and February 2025 [1]. NPR likewise reported that at a DOJ conference Bove told top transnational-crime prosecutors the Trump administration “wasn’t interested in interdicting suspected drug vessels at sea anymore,” and some attendees understood him to mean the U.S. would blow up the boats [2].
2. Two interpretations in the reporting
The coverage presents two plausible readings of Bove’s comments: some attendees understood him to be advocating sinking vessels as an alternative to the longstanding practice of interdiction, seizure and prosecution; others told reporters it was unclear whether he meant sinking after seizure and arrest or sinking instead of interdiction [2] [1]. Reuters explicitly notes witnesses viewed the remarks as a harbinger of the later militarized approach that favored bombing suspected drug vessels [1].
3. Connection to later policy and actions
Both outlets frame Bove’s remarks as occurring months before the U.S. began striking suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific — suggesting his statements anticipated or foreshadowed a dramatic shift away from long-standing maritime interdiction practices [2] [1]. NPR says those strikes represented “a huge change from what the U.S. had done for decades” — historically intercepting, seizing drugs and prosecuting crews [2].
4. Limits of the available reporting
Sources cite anonymous witnesses and attendees; Reuters says it “could not determine” whether Bove’s words directly caused later military strikes, and neither outlet provides an on-the-record clarification from Bove himself in the articles provided [1] [2]. Reporting does not show verbatim, contemporaneous transcript proof of each remark; instead outlets rely on multiple witness accounts and conference summaries [1] [2].
5. How journalists and sources frame motive and tone
Witnesses described the remarks as “belligerent and macho” and said they “jaw dropped” when Bove spoke, according to NPR and Reuters accounts [1] [2]. Reuters quotes a witness calling it the “Bove doctrine,” and both outlets link the comments to a broader shift inside DOJ and the administration toward militarized responses [1] [2].
6. Competing perspectives and unanswered questions
The articles present competing readings rather than a single definitive claim: some attendees took Bove to mean cessation of interdictions, others were unsure if sinking would follow seizure and arrest [2] [1]. Available sources do not mention any official DOJ policy document or public order from the time that codifies Bove’s suggestion into formal guidance, nor do they present Bove’s own public clarification in these stories [1] [2].
7. What to watch next
Follow-up reporting should seek on-the-record testimony from Bove or contemporaneous internal memoranda that would confirm intent and chain of command behind subsequent strikes. Reuters’ and NPR’s accounts supply multiple witness reports tying Bove’s language to later actions, but they leave causation and precise meaning unresolved [1] [2].
Bottom line: witnesses reported that Emil Bove said the U.S. “should … sink the boats,” and attendees interpreted the remark as signaling a withdrawal from traditional maritime interdictions — but reporting also records ambiguity about whether he meant sinking after seizure or sinking instead of seizing and prosecuting, and available sources do not provide direct documentary proof or Bove’s own on-the-record explanation [1] [2].