An explosive new report Wednesday night undercut Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's attempt to distance himself from an order to kill two survivors clinging to a boat following a strike on an alleged drug boat.
The Trump administration's strategy for drug interdiction has come under intense criticism following a Sept. 2 strike that killed two boat survivors.
Hegseth distanced himself from the strike, claiming he watched the first strike live but then left for a meeting.
"I didn't personally see survivors," Hegseth told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday. "The thing was on fire. It was exploded in fire and smoke. You can’t see it."
Hegseth said he learned of the second strike hours later and praised Adm. Frank Bradley, the special operations commander, for a "correct" decision to neutralize the threat. Even so, he stressed he issued no further orders. President Donald Trump has similarly distanced both himself and Hegseth from the killings.
“Adm. Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat,” Hegseth said. “We have his back.”
But The New York Times reported Wednesday that before the administration began launching maritime strikes at suspected drug traffickers, Hegseth approved contingency plans for how to handle potential survivors during drug interdiction missions.
"The military would attempt to rescue survivors who appeared to be helpless, shipwrecked and out of what the administration considered a fight. But it would try again to kill them if they took what the United States deemed to be a hostile action, like communicating with suspected cartel members," officials told the Times.
After the first strike on Sept. 2, two survivors emerged, and one radioed for assistance, the officials said. Bradley, apparently acting on Hegseth's orders, promptly ordered a follow-up strike to kill the survivors, thinking that a second boat could retrieve the survivors and any drugs that weren't destroyed.
Congressional investigators are focusing on several aspects of the killings. They seek access to complete documentation, including message logs, Hegseth's execution order, and full unedited video footage of the engagement. The Pentagon is weighing whether to release these materials.
Legal experts have warned that the Trump administration may have committed a war crime with the follow-up attack.
Bradley and General Dan Caine plan to testify before Congress on Thursday.