Hegseth Says He Would Have Made the Same Call on Second Boat Strike

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday that he fully supports the Sept. 2 military strike that killed two survivors of an earlier attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, telling a defense forum in Simi Valley, California, that “I would have made the same call myself.” He also refused to say whether the Pentagon would release video of the operation, which has become the subject of bipartisan questions in Congress.

According to CBS News, eleven people were killed in the Sept. 2 missile attack, the first of a series of strikes on boats the administration says were smuggling drugs. The controversy began when the Washington Post reported last week that a second missile was fired on the boat and killed two survivors of the first strike. The White House has confirmed the second missile; Hegseth on Saturday denied issuing a kill order on survivors, as the Post reported.

Hegseth, speaking at an event hosted by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, said the second strike was ordered by Navy Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who was leading the mission as head of Special Operations Command, and that it was “well within the authorities” of the admiral. He told Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson that he left the room after the first strike and was told hours later that a “reattack” was needed because some people “could still be in the fight,” with access to radios and a possible link-up with another boat. “I said, ‘Roger, sounds good,’” Hegseth said, according to NBC News.

Accounts of what Bradley told Congress differ in emphasis. On Thursday, lawmakers watched the video of the second strike in a closed-door briefing with Bradley and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Sen. Tom Cotton, the Republican chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters afterward that Bradley said he had not been ordered to leave no survivors, CBS News reported. NBC News reported that Bradley told lawmakers Hegseth ordered the strike to kill all 11 people on board because they were on an internal list of targets that intelligence and military officials had determined could be lethally targeted. NBC noted that an order to kill people on such a list is not forbidden, unlike a “no quarter” order, which would be illegal. Bradley told the briefing he was not given a no-quarter order and would not have followed one, according to a U.S. official and another person with knowledge of the briefing, NBC reported.

Questions remain about the video. Two sources familiar with it told CBS News that the survivors were waving overhead before the second missile hit, which one source said could be read either as a call for help or an attempt to wave off another strike. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would support releasing all the footage, but Hegseth, asked repeatedly on Saturday, said only that “we are reviewing it right now.”

NBC News reported that at least 22 strikes have killed at least 86 people, while CBS News put the toll at at least 87 based on Pentagon figures; both outlets noted the administration has not produced evidence supporting its allegations about the boats. Hegseth said the campaign will go on: “We’ve been clear, if you’re working for a designated terrorist organization, and you bring drugs into this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink you.” CBS added that some legal experts have questioned whether the second strike may have constituted a war crime.