Both the House and Senate have started inquiries into a reported second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean last September which killed the survivors of an initial strike.
According to reporting from The Washington Post, which cited “two people with direct knowledge of the operation,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth allegedly gave a spoken order to kill everyone on board a vessel suspected of carrying drugs on Sept. 2 — the first strike of nearly two dozen on other vessels in the region since that day. Additionally, The Post said its reporting “is based on interviews with and accounts from seven people with knowledge of the Sept. 2 strike and the overall operation.”
The Post reported that after an initial strike showed two survivors, the commander overseeing the attack reportedly ordered a second strike to kill them.
NBC News has not independently confirmed The Washington Post’s reporting.
The top Republican and Democrat on the GOP-led Senate Armed Services Committee said in a statement Friday that the committee was aware of recent reports.
“The Committee has directed inquiries to the [Department of Defense], and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances,” Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in the statement.
The Republican-led House Armed Services Committee followed suit Saturday, with Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Adam Smith, D-Wash., issuing a joint statement in which they said the House Committee is “committed to providing rigorous oversight of the Department of Defense’s military operations in the Caribbean.”
“We take seriously the reports of follow-on strikes on boats alleged to be ferrying narcotics in the SOUTHCOM region and are taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question,” Rogers and Smith wrote.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment Saturday night on the committees’ statements or on The Post’s reporting.
However, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told The Post in a statement that “this entire narrative is completely false.” He told the newspaper that the “ongoing operations to dismantle narcoterrorism and to protect the Homeland from deadly drugs have been a resounding success.”
Hegseth posted on X Friday evening that the strikes were intended to be “lethal, kinetic strikes.”
“The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization,” Hegseth wrote.
“Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command,” he added.
The committees’ statements come amid President Donald Trump’s administration mounting pressure on Venezuela, as Trump weighs military action against the country following nearly two dozen known strikes on vessels in the region, which have killed at least 82 people. Trump on Saturday morning said Venezuela’s airspace should be considered “closed.”
The strikes have raised concerns in Congress about a lack of information from administration officials. Trump last month indicated that his administration will not seek congressional approval for targeting drug traffickers, saying, “I think we’re just gonna kill people that are bringing drugs into our country.”
“We’re going to kill them. They’re going to be, like, dead,” Trump added.
During a press conference in Mexico City, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked about the recent U.S. strike on a Venezuelan boat. He responded by saying that the only way to stop narcoterrorism is “when you blow them up.”
Brennan Leach and Kyle Stewart contributed.
Great Job Raquel Coronell Uribe | NBC News & the Team @ NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth for sharing this story.
