Pete Hegseth defends Caribbean drug boat strikes amid media controversy

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth rebuked the press following media reports that he had signed off on a second strike against the drug ship allegedly holding survivors of the first.

The Trump administration has come under renewed scrutiny for its attacks targeting alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean. Washington Post On Friday, it was reported that Hegseth verbally ordered everyone on the drug boat to be killed in the Sept. 2 operation. The Post reported that a second attack was carried out to extract survivors from the boat.

On Monday, the White House confirmed that a second attack had occurred, but when asked specifically about Hegseth’s instructions, denied that Hegseth had given an initial order to kill everyone on board.

Hegseth said that he watched the first attack live, but did not see anyone surviving amid the fire and smoke at the time, and criticized the press for this news.

HEGSETH SUPPORTS SPECIAL OPERATIONS CHIEF’S ‘WAR DECISIONS’ ON DEADLY CARIBBEAN ATTACK BEFORE SECRET BRIEFING

“This is called the fog of war. That’s what people in the press don’t understand,” Hegseth told reporters at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. “You sit in your air-conditioned offices or on Capitol Hill and you do stuff and you publish fake stories from anonymous sources in the Washington Post about ‘kill everyone’ statements that are based on nothing, not based on any facts. And then you want to throw around really irresponsible terms about American heroes and the decisions they made.”

Hegseth said he went to the meeting after watching the first attack and later learned about the second attack. The White House said Monday that Hegseth authorized Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley to carry out the attacks, and that it was Bradley who ordered and directed the second attack.

At the time of the September 2 attack, Bradley was serving as commander of U.S. Special Operations Command’s Joint Special Operations Command. He is currently the head of U.S. Special Operations Command.

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U.S. Navy Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, the new commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, makes remarks during the USSOCOM Change of Command Ceremony in Tampa, Florida, Oct. 3, 2025. (Monique Stober)

According to Hegseth, launching a later attack on the alleged drug ship was the right decision.

“Admiral Bradley ultimately made the correct decision to sink the boat and eliminate the threat,” Hegseth said Tuesday. he said.

Meanwhile, reports of the second strike have drawn increased scrutiny from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill, calling for more oversight amid questions about the legality of the strikes.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., who leads the House Armed Services Committee. “This committee is committed to ensuring strict oversight of the Department of Defense’s military operations in the Caribbean,” Rep. and Adam Smith, D-Wash., said in a statement Saturday. “We take seriously reports of subsequent attacks on boats allegedly transporting narcotics in the SOUTHCOM area and are taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of that operation.”

President Donald Trump announced on October 14, 2025 that the United States killed six people allegedly involved in drug trafficking on a boat in international waters near Venezuela. (realDonaldTrump/Real Social)

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Hegseth said Tuesday that the Trump administration’s campaign against the flow of drugs will continue even as there is a pause in attacks in the Caribbean as drug boats become harder to find.

“We have only just begun attacking drug boats and sending narco-terrorists to the bottom of the ocean because they are poisoning the American people,” Hegseth said.

The Trump administration has launched more than 20 attacks on alleged drug boat sites. Latin American watersand strengthened it Military presence in the Caribbean Aligning with Trump’s goal of stemming the flow of drugs into the US