White House Confirms Admiral Approved Second Deadly Boat Strike

The White House on Monday confirmed a second strike in September had killed wounded civilians after the first effort failed, and put responsibility largely on the naval commander leading the mission.

Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said U.S. Special Operations Command head Adm. Frank Bradley was “within his authority and the law” in conducting the second strike on alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean, after the force of the first strike tossed them from the boat.

Her comments appeared to try and defend Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth, who came under fire over the weekend after The Washington Post reported that he authorized an elite military unit to kill everyone in the alleged drug boat. The case has heightened scrutiny from lawmakers and others on the deadly U.S. campaign to kill drug traffickers in the Caribbean.

The Post reported that Hegseth gave a verbal order to kill everyone after surveillance footage showed two men clinging to the wreckage. Bradley, as head of Special Operations Command, ordered the second strike.

But the White House distanced the Pentagon chief from the direct attacks. Hegseth “authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes,” Leavitt said. “The president has made it quite clear that if narco-terrorists again are trafficking illegal drugs towards the United States, he has the authority to kill them. That is what this administration is doing.”

The incident, which killed 11 people, was an early salvo in the Trump administration’s military action against what it has dubbed “narco-terrorists” who are smuggling drugs from Venezuela to the U.S. Dozens of unidentified people have been killed in the strikes at sea in what the Trump administration insists are legal attacks covered under international law.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress have pledged to investigate the report, which some warn could amount to war crimes.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hegseth has given wide latitude to commanders in various hot spots to conduct strikes as they see fit. That authority has been used extensively in the Middle East against militant groups supported by Iran, and now apparently in the Caribbean. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the European Command head, has also used the authority to greenlight Ukrainian strikes on Russian forces that use sophisticated American weaponry.

President Donald Trump seemed initially unaware of the incident, and appeared to distance himself from it.

Asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One on Sunday if a second strike against survivors would be illegal, Trump said he didn’t know what happened. “I wouldn’t have wanted that, not a second strike,” he said.

The initial strike on the boat “was fine,” he added, “and if there were two people around — but [Hegseth] said that didn’t happen. I have great confidence in him.”