US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio are expected to brief the "gang of eight" lawmakers on Tuesday afternoon, according to two sources familiar with the plan and a Trump administration official.
The "gang of eight" - intelligence committee and senate and house of representatives leaders from both parties - are traditionally briefed on major national security actions.
The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan is not public, did not discuss the nature of the briefing, expected to take place at 15:30 (20:30 GMT).
The disclosure about the briefing comes amid mounting tensions between the United States and Venezuela, as President Donald Trump threatens land strikes against Venezuelan drug traffickers, after more than a three-month military campaign against drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific.
The US military has also staged a dramatic buildup of warships in the Caribbean, including an aircraft carrier strike group and a nuclear submarine.
Admiral Alvin Holsey, the outgoing commander of the US military's Southern Command, which oversees American troops in Latin America, is also expected to brief a separate group of house and senate lawmakers on Tuesday, two people familiar with the matter said.
Holsey will step down on Friday, less than two months after making a surprise announcement of an early retirement.
His October 15 statement announcing his departure from US Southern Command came just over a month into the Pentagon's accelerating campaign against drug boats that have resulted in nearly 90 terrorist deaths.
Reuters has heard conflicting accounts surrounding Holsey's departure, with some sources saying he was pushed out of his job by Hegseth, who was frustrated by Southern Command. Holsey has not publicly offered a reason for his early retirement.
Trump's military operations against drug smugglers have been under intense scrutiny following a September 2 decision to launch a second strike on a drug boat in the Caribbean.
The video of the attack viewed by lawmakers last week showed two drug traffickers clinging to wreckage after their vessel was destroyed in the first strike, according to sources familiar with the imagery.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali and Daphne Psaledakis; Writing by Phil Stewart and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Leslie Adler and Michael Perry)
