Republican-led committees in the Senate and the House say they will amplify their scrutiny of the Pentagon after a Washington Post report revealing that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken order to kill all crew members aboard a vessel suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea several weeks ago.
A live drone feed showed two survivors from the original crew of 11 clinging to the wreckage of their boat after the initial missile attack Sept. 2, The Post reported Friday afternoon. The Special Operations commander overseeing the operation then ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s directive, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation, killing both survivors. Those people, along with five others in the original report, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.
Late Friday, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Jack Reed (Rhode Island), the committee’s top Democrat, issued a statement saying that the committee “is aware of recent news reports — and the Department of Defense’s initial response — regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels.” The committee, they said, “has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.”
The leaders of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-Alabama) and Rep. Adam Smith (D-Washington), followed suit late Saturday. In a brief joint statement, the pair said they are “taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question.” The committee, they noted, is “committed to providing rigorous oversight of the Department of Defense’s military operations in the Caribbean.”
The development is significant. Since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the Republican majorities in Congress have shown considerable deference to his administration.
After the publication of The Post’s report Friday, Hegseth wrote on X that “these highly effective strikes are designed to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes,’” adding: “Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”
“Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict — and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command,” he said.
Hegseth opened his post with a swipe at “the fake news,” which he said “is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.”
In some closed-door briefings to lawmakers, the Pentagon has declined to bring lawyers who could help explain the legal rationale behind the strikes. There has been extensive frustration among some members of Congress — including some Republicans — at the lack of detail provided to Capitol Hill, ranging from the intelligence to support the strikes to the identities of the people killed.
Last month, Wicker and Reed made public two letters they previously sent to the Pentagon, requesting the orders, recordings and legal rationale related to the strikes. The Defense Department, they wrote in the rare public warning, had surpassed the time required by law to provide some of the materials.
That information would have included Hegseth’s order to kill everyone in the first strike and the video of the attack.
The Trump administration has justified the attacks by arguing that the U.S. “is in a non-international armed conflict” with traffickers, while the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel said in a classified memo that U.S. military personnel engaged in lethal action in Latin America would not be exposed to future prosecution.
But some current and former U.S. officials and law-of-war experts have said that the Pentagon’s lethal campaign — which has killed more than 80 people — is unlawful and may expose those most directly involved to prosecution.
The alleged traffickers pose no imminent threat of attack against the United States and are not in an “armed conflict” with the U.S., these officials and experts say.
A group of former military attorneys who have scrutinized the Trump administration’s military activities in Latin America released an assessment Saturday outlining relevant international and domestic laws, and said that regardless of whether the U.S. is in an armed conflict, conducting law enforcement or other military operations, the targeting of defenseless people is prohibited.
Under the circumstances The Post reported, “not only does international law prohibit targeting these survivors, but it also requires the attacking force to protect, rescue, and, if applicable, treat them as prisoners of war,” the group said in a statement circulated to news media. “Violations of these obligations are war crimes, murder, or both. There are no other options.”
The Joint Special Operations Command had said in briefing materials provided to the White House that the purpose of the “double-tap” strike was to sink the boat to avoid any navigation hazard to other vessels, according to one person who saw the report. Lawmakers received a similar explanation in two closed-door briefings, according to two congressional aides.
“The idea that wreckage from one small boat in a vast ocean is a hazard to marine traffic is patently absurd, and killing survivors is blatantly illegal,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Massachusetts) said in a statement to The Post.
The U.S. military has carried out more than 20 strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, according to officials and internal data seen by The Post.
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