Hegseth says US 'just sunk another narco boat' amid uproar
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday evening confirmed that the U.S. had launched another
boat strike, this time in the Eastern Pacific.
The announcement came hours after Hegseth faced immense scrutiny as Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, the Navy SEAL officer who now leads the U.S. Special Operations Command, briefed members of Congress at Capitol Hill about the controversial “double-tap” strike that took place on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean on Sept. 2. The incident is considered by some to be a potential
war crime, as a follow-up strike on a boat, ordered by Bradley, killed survivors of the first attack.
Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for the late Charlie Kirk’s Conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA, showcased ardent support for the Secretary of Defense via social media, saying “Every new attack aimed at Pete Hegseth makes me want another narco drug boat blown up and sent to the bottom of the ocean.”
In response,
Hegseth said: “Your wish is our command, Andrew. Just sunk another narco boat.”
The somewhat casual response to the military action came shortly after the U.S. Southern Command had confirmed what is understood to be the 22nd boat attack carried out by the U.S. in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
The latest strike killed four people, reportedly bringing the total of deaths to 87.
Confirming that the latest boat strike had been carried out under the direction of Hegseth,
the U.S. Southern Command said: “Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was carrying illicit narcotics and transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific. Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed.”
Since launching the initial strike in the Caribbean Sea in September, the Trump Administration has argued that the U.S. military action is necessary to curb the flow of narcotics into the United States. While the Administration has yet to release any public evidence showcasing that the boats being targeted are carrying drugs, lawmakers who attended Thursday’s briefing said officials had confirmed drugs were found aboard the vessels.
Read More: Which Countries Have Stopped Sharing Intelligence With U.S. Over Boat Strikes in Caribbean?
Hegseth has come under fire in recent days, with bipartisan calls for an investigation, after the
Washington Post reported that he had given a “kill everybody” directive that resulted in a second strike being extended upon a vessel to which survivors from the initial strike were still clinging on.
Hegseth has denied issuing a “kill everybody” instruction for the Sept. 2 strikes, and during the briefing on Capitol Hill, Adm. Bradley also vehemently denied that Hegseth ordered his subordinates to “kill everybody” aboard the vessel.
The White House, after confirming the second strike on the alleged drug boat, defended the move as lawful. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt
said last week that Bradley had acted “within his authority and the law.”
Lawmakers were divided upon reviewing video footage of the contentious Sept. 2 strikes during Thursday's briefing.
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, defended the military’s actions as “righteous strikes,” telling reporters on Capitol Hill that such attacks were “entirely lawful and needful.”
Elsewhere, Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was “deeply disturbed” by the footage.
“This briefing confirmed my worst fears about the nature of the Trump Administration’s military activities, and demonstrates exactly why the Senate Armed Services Committee has repeatedly requested—and been denied—fundamental information, documents, and facts about this operation. This must and will be the only beginning of our investigation into this incident,” said Reed in a statement to TIME, adding that the Pentagon has “no choice” but to release the unedited footage of the strike.
Trump previously said the vessels
targeted on Sept. 2 were manned by members of the Venezuelan cartel
Tren De Aragua, which he claims is under the control of Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro. (A claim
reportedly at odds with an assessment by U.S. analysts.)
The U.S. military has spent the past three months placing warships, fighter jets, marines, and drones—along with other surveillance and intelligence-gathering equipment—in the Caribbean Sea. The Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier has also been placed in the Latin American region.
During a Tuesday Cabinet meeting, Trump reiterated the U.S. is planning to elevate its military campaign against Venezuela and its alleged drug vessels by carrying out land strikes, too.
“We’re doing these [sea] strikes and we’re going to start doing those strikes on land, too, you know, the land is much easier, much easier,” Trump said.
Venezuela’s leader Maduro has
vowed to defend “every inch” of the country’s land, amid growing tensions with the U.S. At a rally in late November, Maduro—dressed in camouflage fatigues and brandishing a sword—told a roaring crowd: “We must be ready to defend every inch of this blessed land from imperialist threat or aggression, no matter where it comes from.”
He added: “There is no excuse for anyone to fail at this decisive moment, for the existence of the Republic, no excuse.”
The Trump Administration, much like the Biden Administration before them, does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela. Maduro, who became President of Venezuela following Hugo Chavez’s death in 2013, was sworn in for a third term in January, despite widespread concern over the legitimacy of the country's election results.
Write to Olivia-Anne Cleary at
olivia-anne.cleary@time.com.
