A top U.S. Navy Admiral will reportedly tell lawmakers that the survivors of a strike on an alleged “narco vessel” boat in the Caribbean were trying to continue their drug run before they were hit by a second missile.
Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, a respected Navy SEAL officer who leads U.S. Special Operations Command, is headed to Capitol Hill Thursday where he will be probed by lawmakers about how events unfolded on Sept. 2.
Bradley intends to brief members of Congress that he and his legal adviser concluded that the two survivors were “legitimate targets for another attack” because they were attempting to continue their drug operation, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing two defense officials.
The claim may rebut allegations that the second strike on the survivors constituted a war crime.
On Sept. 2 the Trump administration targeted what it claimed was a Venezuelan “narco vessel” in the Caribbean, part of a crackdown that has so far killed more than 80 people in three months.
After the first missile failed to kill everyone aboard, it emerged last week that a second strike was ordered to kill the remaining two survivors.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was accused of being a “war criminal” by those on the right and the left after a report stated he ordered the attack. That caused lawmakers to demand answers on the justification for the second strike.
Hegseth and the Trump administration initially railed against the reporting of a second strike and claimed it was “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory.”
But during a Monday White House briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the second strike took place and said it was ordered by Bradley.
The decorated admiral is expected to be pressed on how he reached the conclusion that the survivors were legitimate targets, if they were injured and whether a rescue operation was considered before ordering the second strike. He is likely to be probed further on the wider mission against alleged drug boats operating in the Caribbean.
Nine people were killed during the first strike, which set the boat on fire, defense officials told the WSJ. “It took an hour before the survivors were visible on the live feed,” they said.
In deciding whether to launch a second attack, Bradley considered the fact that other “enemy” vessels were close by and reportedly believed they were communicating with other drug-smugglers via radio, according to the Journal.
Geoffrey Corn, a former military lawyer, and now at the Center for Military Law and Policy at Texas Tech, told the WSJ that if Bradley’s account is accurate, it would “appear to provide a legitimate explanation for the second strike.”
Bradley was reportedly watching the operation unfold via a live feed, along with Hegseth, but the former Fox News host said this week that he “moved on” to his next meeting before the second strike took place and “did not personally see survivors.”
Senators have said they would like to know why Hegseth stepped out during a critical moment of the mission and where he went.
“I want to see his calendar for that day,” Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine told CNN. “I want to know what meeting he went to. I want to know how long he was, where he was.”
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina added that “if someone knowingly launched a second missile at that boat, which led to the deaths of the other two, then they have to be held accountable.”
Hegseth hailed Bradley an “American hero” in a post on X Monday and backed him again during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. “Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat,” Hegseth said.
