The House Armed Services Committee is “done” examining a U.S. military strike on a boat in the Caribbean where two survivors were killed in a follow-up attack, the panel’s chairman said on Wednesday after viewing video from the mission in a classified briefing.
Representative Mike Rogers, Republican of Alabama and the panel’s chairman, said that the Pentagon had fully met his expectations for congressional oversight and that he would not pursue additional hearings or briefings.
“I’m satisfied everybody answered all the questions and I’m also satisfied that this was a lawful process that was followed,” Mr. Rogers said after a classified briefing led by Adm. Frank M. Bradley. “My committee is done.”
Lawmakers emerged from classified briefings on Capitol Hill sharply divided after viewing video of the Sept. 2 follow-up strike, with Republicans largely expressing confidence in the Pentagon’s legal rationale and Democrats questioning the strike’s legality and pressing for greater transparency.
Representative Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska, said he was satisfied with the intelligence and the legal justification presented by Pentagon officials during the closed-door House briefing, describing what he said was a rigorous decision-making process.
“There’s strict rules of engagement,” Mr. Bacon said. “Strict procedures to go by and criteria. And I think they follow it.” He added that he had been impressed with Admiral Bradley’s presentation of mission details and that he was confident in the Trump administration’s legal justification. “He’s had lots of experience with this Special Ops community so I felt like they did it right, I think the mission is right, but continued hostilities does require congressional approval,” he said.
Still, Mr. Bacon joined bipartisan calls for broader access to the video, saying a redacted version should be shared with all members of Congress and the public.
“They have to take out some of the stuff on the side that’s classified, but they could do it,” he said.
Democrats said the briefing and video reinforced their concerns. Representative Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado, remained convinced that the Sept. 2 follow-up strike was unlawful.
“I saw no justification for why a second strike needed to be taken, and I think it was a violation of the law,” Mr. Crow said.
In the Senate, similar divisions emerged earlier on Wednesday, when members of the chamber’s Armed Services panel were given a similar briefing. Senator Dan Sullivan, Republican of Alaska, said that military officials had emphasized that strikes were carried out only when legal standards were met and that commanders frequently opted for interdiction when those standards could not be satisfied.
“They go through the very exquisite process on how they decide to take out one of these boats with lawyers with intel,” Mr. Sullivan said. “It’s got to be exquisite. And if they don’t, then what do they do? They go and interdict that ship, which is a much more dangerous mission, by the way.”
Mr. Sullivan added that a Coast Guard admiral told lawmakers a day earlier that since September, authorities had interdicted dozens of vessels when legal justification for a strike could not be established.
Mr. Sullivan said he would have no issue allowing other members of Congress the opportunity to view the video he had just screened, but added that he would defer to the Defense Department.
But a day earlier, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters on Capitol Hill that he would not support releasing the video broadly beyond select committees, arguing that doing so would risk exposing sensitive operational details.
His decision, which came after he had appeared open to screen the unedited video of the two strikes for all members, renewed criticism from Democrats and some Republicans over how much information the administration had shared about a strike that raised fundamental questions about war powers and congressional oversight.
Robert Jimison covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on defense issues and foreign policy.
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