The Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said Tuesday that he planned to end an inquiry into a U.S. military strike that killed two survivors of an attack on their alleged drug smuggling vessel in early September.
Rep. Mike D. Rogers (Alabama) told reporters Tuesday that he had received all of the information he needed after launching the probe less than two weeks ago. A spokesperson for Rogers confirmed the congressman’s plans, though his timeline for winding things down was not clear.
The abrupt announcement casts doubt on what has been perhaps the most muscular oversight effort from Congress during Pete Hegseth’s tenure as secretary of defense. Rogers announced his probe shortly after his Senate counterpart — Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) — launched a similar effort following The Washington Post’s reporting about the Sept. 2 strike. The operation’s commander, Adm. Frank M. Bradley, spent hours on Capitol Hill last week answering lawmakers’ questions in a series of classified briefings.
Wicker has said little publicly about plans for his committee’s probe. Democrats have said that the inquiries into the strike should drastically expand, including the release of more evidence, such as Hegseth’s orders before the operation and unedited video of the strikes.
The Sept. 2 attack marked the opening of the Trump administration’s military campaign against suspected drug traffickers in the waters off Latin America. The strike killed 11 people, including the two survivors. Law of war experts have questioned whether the military’s killing of the two survivors was legal.
Rogers, whose comments were reported earlier by Politico, expressed his hesitancy to proceed soon after a classified call with Adm. Alvin Holsey, the top U.S. military officer overseeing operations in Latin America. Their discussion, which included Rep. Adam Smith (Washington), the Armed Services Committee’s top Democrat, occurred just days before the admiral is due to step down from his position — a premature exit that comes amid tension with the Trump administration and its deadly counternarcotics campaign in the region.
Holsey, head of U.S. Southern Command, has been in the assignment a little more than a year. Typically, top commanders in such assignments hold the position for about three years.
He met earlier Tuesday in a classified session with Wicker and the Senate Armed Services Committee’s top Democrat, Jack Reed (Rhode Island). Reed, speaking to reporters afterward, said that Holsey “described the command relationships” he experienced and was “forthcoming,” though there is “still more to be gleaned.”
Wicker declined to comment on the discussion with Holsey beyond saying it was “cordial.”
The admiral’s classified calls with lawmakers were expected to cover a range of topics, including the controversial nature of his early retirement and bipartisan scrutiny of the Sept. 2 strike, people familiar with the matter said.
A spokesman for Holsey did not respond to requests for comment.
Holsey is among a group of more than 20 generals and admirals that have been fired, removed, reassigned or otherwise pushed aside since the Trump administration took office in January. The collective brain drain also includes the ouster of Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the former chief of naval operations, and Adm. Linda Fagan, the Coast Guard commandant.
Some of those officers departed their roles immediately, while others — like Holsey — stayed on for a period of time until a replacement was selected.
Holsey’s forthcoming retirement was disclosed in October and followed months of tension with Hegseth, people familiar with the matter said. At the time, these people said, Hegseth was unhappy with Holsey’s cautious approach as the administration, which has put significant emphasis on what it says are the national security imperatives inherent to the Western Hemisphere, looked to ramp up pressure on certain Latin American countries.
Hegseth, people familiar with the matter said, grew frustrated with how long it took Southern Command to comply with his requests, including to develop a plan for Panama. People familiar with the organization’s inner workings said the command has long been resourced more thinly than the military’s more high-profile organizations overseeing activities in the Middle East and in the Pacific, and for many years has relied on regional partners to complete missions.
Spokespeople for Hegseth previously have denied that there was tension between Holsey and Hegseth.
Separately Tuesday, top Trump administration officials convened a classified briefing for the “Gang of Eight,” a group of lawmakers that includes House and Senate leadership from both parties, plus the top Republicans and Democrats on each chamber’s Intelligence committee. Lawmakers heard from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the Joint Chiefs chairman.
Sen. Mark R. Warner (Virginia), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said after the meeting that Hegseth did not commit to releasing the full video of the Sept. 2 strike, nor sharing other materials requested by lawmakers.
“I did not get a complete refusal but I got inadequate answers,” Warner said.
Lawmakers from both parties have for many weeks sought greater clarity on President Donald Trump’s objectives in Latin American, including his plans for Venezuela. Trump has repeatedly threatened to undertake military action there unless Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro steps down.
Theodoric Meyer and Alex Horton contributed to this report.
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