The Pentagon was aware that survivors remained in the water after a September US military strike on an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea, but a second strike was still authorized to sink the boat, according to an AP report citing two people familiar with the incident.
What did the Pentagon know before the second strike?
According to two people with direct knowledge of the operation, US officials understood there were individuals still alive after the initial strike on September 2. Nevertheless, a follow-up attack was launched to destroy the vessel.
The Trump administration claimed that all 11 people on board died in the first strike. What remains “unclear is who ordered the attacks and whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was involved,” the AP quoted one official as saying, adding that the chain of command is now the focus of congressional oversight.
The survivors’ knowledge and rationale offered for moving forward regardless “were not presented to lawmakers during a secret briefing in September.” It did not appear until later, and members of the National Security Committees found it “totally unsatisfactory”.
How did Pete Hegseth react to the allegation that he saw survivors?
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke publicly about the incident on Tuesday, insisting that he had not personally witnessed any survivors clinging to the rubble between the two US strikes.
“I personally didn’t see any survivors,” he told reporters, explaining that “the thing was on fire. It exploded, there’s fire, there’s smoke.”
“It’s called the fog of war,” he added.
He later defended the commander who authorized the second strike, Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, stating that Bradley “made the right call” and “had full authority to do so”. Hegseth also acknowledged that he “didn’t hold back” for the rest of the mission.
Why is Congress investigating the incident?
The House and Senate Armed Services Committees have opened investigations — a rare bipartisan move — as legal experts and lawmakers question whether the US acted legally.
Critics say striking survivors in the water during peacekeeping operations could violate international humanitarian law and human rights conventions. The Trump administration has claimed that the United States is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, even though Congress has never authorized military force in the region.
Admiral Bradley, who the administration says ordered the second strike, is scheduled to brief Republican caucus chairmen and Democratic rank-and-file members Thursday behind closed doors.
What are the broader concerns raised by the strike by US ships in the Caribbean?
The Sept. 2 raid was the first in what the Trump administration describes as an expanding anti-drug campaign spanning the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The operation has now grown to over 20 known strikes resulting in over 80 deaths.
A separate strike on September 15 has already prompted a formal human rights challenge. The family of Alejandro Carranza, a Colombian fisherman, has appealed to the Inter-American Human Rights System, claiming his death was an extrajudicial killing after the US military bombed his small fishing boat.
These combined incidents have increased pressure on the Pentagon to clarify the legal bases, rules of engagement and oversight mechanisms that govern lethal operations away from conventional theaters of war.
Will the video of the strike on the ship be released?
In response to questions on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said he was open to releasing video footage of the subsequent strike, as several Democratic lawmakers had demanded.
“I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have, we would certainly release. No problem,” he told reporters.
