The defense secretary said he left part way through the operation and did not see survivors following the initial strike on Sept. 2.
WASHINGTON—Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said he watched the initial strike on a drug boat in early September, but did not see survivors or stick around for a follow-up strike on the damaged vessel.
“I watched that first strike live,” Hegseth told reporters at a Dec. 2 White House Cabinet meeting.
“As you can imagine, at the Department of War, we’ve got a lot of things to do … so I moved on to my next meeting,” he added.
Hegseth said around two hours after the initial strike in the Caribbean Sea on Sept. 2, he learned that the commander overseeing the mission, Navy Vice Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, had ordered a follow-up strike.
“Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat,” he said.
The defense secretary’s remarks followed recent reporting by The Washington Post, alleging he ordered the follow-up strike after at least two survivors were observed clinging to floating wreckage in the water.
Lawmakers and legal commentators have since raised concerns that targeting shipwrecked survivors, as alleged in The Washington Post article, could be considered a war crime.
“I did not personally see survivors,” Hegseth added.
The defense secretary said the targeted vessel was on fire, with smoke billowing about the scene.
“This is called the ‘fog of war.’ This is what you and the press don’t understand. You sit in your air-conditioned offices, or up on Capitol Hill, and you nitpick, and you plant fake stories,” he continued.
Following the initial reporting about the double-tap strike, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle vowed to probe the incident.
Bradley is set to testify to lawmakers in a classified setting on Thursday as part of the probe, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said.
After vowing oversight, Rogers said he was “satisfied” after an initial conversation with Hegseth about the incident, but still wants to hear from Bradley about the Sept. 2 operation.
By Ryan Morgan
