1 of 3 | Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley arrives for a closed-door classified briefing with members of the Senate Armed Services Committee at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Thursday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not order more strikes on a suspected drug boat on Sept. 2 as the military began targeting drug-runners, Navy Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley told lawmakers.
Bradley and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a joint session on Thursday, apprised members of the House and Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees of the attack that killed 11 crew members in international waters near Venezuela.
Bradley was in charge of the Sept. 2 strikes and denied any order had been given telling the military to kill all crew members.
“Admiral Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, not to give no quarter or to kill them all,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., told reporters after the closed-door hearing, as reported by The Hill.
Cotton chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee and said Bradley was “given an order that, of course, was written down in great detail, as our military always does.”
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said Bradley “confirmed that there had not been a ‘kill them all’ order and that there was not an order to ‘grant no quarter.'”
Himes said a total of four aerial strikes were carried out against the vessel and its occupants.
“I reviewed the video, and it’s deeply troubling,” Himes told media. “We killed two people who were in deep distress and had neither the means nor, obviously, the intent to continue their mission.”
Two unnamed U.S. officials contradicted Himes and said the additional strikes were deemed necessary after the military intercepted radio communications between the two survivors and suspected cartel members, The New York Times reported.
The radio communications suggested drugs remained salvageable and showed the two survivors were not shipwrecked but instead were calling for help to retrieve the cargo, the two officials said.
The Washington Post last week reported that Hegseth ordered the military to “kill everybody,” which raised concerns of a potential war crime and prompted Thursday’s joint committees session.
Bradley and Hegseth faced scrutiny over the additional strikes on a boat thought to be transporting illicit drugs. The first attack killed all but two people aboard the boat.
Hegseth denied that he verbally ordered the military to “kill everybody” in the attack, as reported by The Post, and said Bradley was responsible for ordering subsequent strikes.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had said on Monday that Hegseth authorized a second attack, which Bradley then ordered as head of the Joint Special Operations Command at the time.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers took issue with the call to carry out a second strike on the disabled boat and its survivors, prompting the inquiry by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Speaking on Wednesday during the last Cabinet meeting of the year, Hegseth said the Trump administration has “only just begun” to attack suspected drug boats and put alleged “narcoterrorists at the bottom of the ocean.”
This week in Washington
President Donald Trump announces changes to fuel economy standards in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Wednesday. Trump announced a rollback of fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks set by the Biden administration, making it easier for automakers to sell gas-powered vehicles. Photo by Will Oliver/UPI | License Photo
