The September 2 incident -- the first in a series of strikes targeting purported narcotics-smuggling vessels that have left more than 80 people dead -- has sparked widespread criticism of both the military campaign and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The footage showed "the United States military attacking shipwrecked sailors -- bad guys, bad guys -- but attacking shipwrecked sailors," Representative Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told journalists.
Himes described it as "one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service."
"You have two individuals in clear distress without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, who were killed by the United States," he added.
Republican Representative Don Bacon meanwhile said on CNN that "these two people were trying to survive and our... rules of war would not allow us to kill survivors."
"The rules are they have to pose an imminent threat. And I think we could say they did not pose an imminent threat to our country," Bacon said.
Both the White House and Pentagon have sought to distance Hegseth from the decision to strike the survivors -- which some US lawmakers have said could be a war crime -- instead pinning the blame on Admiral Frank Bradley, who directly oversaw the operation.
Himes said Bradley told lawmakers that Hegseth did not order that all the boat's crew be killed, but Bacon said the Pentagon chief is ultimately responsible because "he's the secretary of defense."
Trump's administration insists it is effectively at war with alleged "narco-terrorists," and the president has deployed the world's biggest aircraft and an array of other military assets to the Caribbean, insisting they are there for counter-narcotics operations.
Regional tensions have flared as a result of the strikes and the military buildup, with Venezuela's leftist leader Nicolas Maduro accusing Washington of using drug trafficking as a pretext for "imposing regime change" in Caracas.
Pentagon chief says US has 'only just begun' striking alleged drug boats
Washington (AFP) Dec 2, 2025 -
The United States has "only just begun" targeting alleged drug-trafficking boats, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted Tuesday, despite a growing outcry over strikes that critics say amount to extrajudicial killings.
Hegseth and President Donald Trump's administration have come under fire particularly over an incident in which US forces launched a follow-up strike on the wreckage of a vessel that had already been hit, reportedly killing two survivors.
Both the White House and Pentagon have sought to distance Hegseth from that decision -- which some US lawmakers have said could be a war crime -- instead pinning the blame on the admiral who directly oversaw the operation.
"We've only just begun striking narco boats and putting narco-terrorists at the bottom of the ocean, because they've been poisoning the American people," Hegseth said during a Tuesday cabinet meeting.
"We've had a bit of a pause because it's hard to find boats to strike right now -- which is the entire point, right? Deterrence has to matter," Hegseth said.
The Pentagon chief said he watched the first strike but "did not personally see survivors," while also defending the second attack, saying it was the "correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat."
Earlier on Tuesday, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson insisted that the strikes were legal.
The operations "are lawful under both US and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict," she told a news conference.
- Hegseth backs follow-on strikes -
Wilson also repeated the White House's assertion that Admiral Frank Bradley -- who now leads US Special Operations Command -- made "the decision to re-strike the narco-terrorist vessel," saying the senior Navy officer was "operating under clear and long-standing authorities to ensure the boat was destroyed."
"Any follow-on strikes like those which were directed by Admiral Bradley, the secretary 100 percent agrees with," she added.
Wilson spoke to a friendly audience, with dozens of journalists who refused to sign a new restrictive Pentagon media policy earlier in the year barred from the event.
Trump's administration insists it is effectively at war with alleged "narco-terrorists" and began carrying out strikes in early September on vessels it says were transporting drugs -- a campaign that has so far left more than 80 dead.
The follow-up strike that killed survivors took place on September 2 and would appear to run afoul of the Pentagon's own Law of War Manual, which states that "orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal."
Democratic senators have slammed the September 2 strikes, with Jacky Rosen and Chris Van Hollen saying the incident may be a war crime, and Chris Murphy accusing Hegseth of "passing the buck."
Trump has deployed the world's biggest aircraft and an array of other military assets to the Caribbean, insisting they are there for counter-narcotics operations.
Regional tensions have flared as a result of the strikes and the military buildup, with Venezuela's leftist leader Nicolas Maduro accusing Washington of using drug trafficking as a pretext for "imposing regime change" in Caracas.
Maduro, whose re-election last year was rejected by Washington as fraudulent, insists there is no drug cultivation in Venezuela, which he says is used as a trafficking route for Colombian cocaine against its will.
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