GOP-led committee’s pledge came after report that Hegseth ordered strike leave no survivors

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth. Photo / Jabin Botsford, The Washington Post

Republican-led committees in the Senate and the House say they will amplify their scrutiny of the Pentagon after a Washington Post report revealing that United States Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken order to kill all crew members aboard a vessel suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea several weeks ago.

A live drone feed showed two survivors from the original crew of 11 clinging to the wreckage of their boat after the initial missile attack on September 2, the Post reported.

The Special Operations commander overseeing the operation then ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s directive, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation, killing both survivors.

Those sources, and five others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

Senator Roger Wicker (Republican-Mississippi), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator Jack Reed (Rhode Island), the committee’s top Democrat, issued a statement saying that the committee “is aware of recent news reports - and the Department of Defence’s initial response - regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels”.

The committee, they said, “has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances”.

The leaders of the House Armed Services Committee, Representative Mike Rogers (R-Alabama) and Representative Adam Smith (D-Washington), followed suit yesterday.

In a brief joint statement, the pair said they are “taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question”. The committee, they noted, is “committed to providing rigorous oversight of the Department of Defence’s military operations in the Caribbean”.

The development is significant.

Since US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the Republican majorities in Congress have shown considerable deference to his Administration.

After the publication of the Post’s report on Saturday, Hegseth wrote on X that “these highly effective strikes are designed to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes’”.

He added: “Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organisation”.

“Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both US 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 said.

This screen grab from a video posted by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on his X account on November 10 is one of several he has posted showing what the US official says is a lethal strike on a vessel carrying narcotics. Photo / Pete Hegseth

Hegseth opened his post with a swipe at “the fake news”, which he said “is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland”.

In some closed-door briefings to lawmakers, the Pentagon has declined to bring lawyers who could help explain the legal rationale behind the strikes.

There has been extensive frustration among some members of Congress - including some Republicans - at the lack of detail provided to Capitol Hill, ranging from the intelligence to support the strikes to the identities of the people killed.

Last month, Wicker and Reed made public two letters they previously sent to the Pentagon, requesting the orders, recordings, and legal rationale related to the strikes.

The Defence Department, they wrote in the rare public warning, had surpassed the time required by law to provide some of the materials.

That information would have included Hegseth’s order to kill everyone in the first strike and the video of the attack.

The Trump Administration has justified the attacks by arguing that the US “is in a non-international armed conflict” with traffickers, while the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel said in a classified memo that US military personnel engaged in lethal action in Latin America would not be exposed to future prosecution.

Some current and former US officials and law-of-war experts have said that the Pentagon’s lethal campaign - which has killed more than 80 people - is unlawful and may expose those most directly involved to prosecution.

The alleged traffickers pose no imminent threat of attack against the US and are not in an “armed conflict” with the US, these officials and experts say.

A group of former military lawyers who have scrutinised the Trump Administration’s military activities in Latin America released an assessment outlining relevant international and domestic laws and said that regardless of whether the US is in an armed conflict, conducting law enforcement or other military operations, the targeting of defenceless people is prohibited.

Under the circumstances the Post reported, “not only does international law prohibit targeting these survivors, but it also requires the attacking force to protect, rescue, and, if applicable, treat them as prisoners of war”, the group said in a statement circulated to news media.

“Violations of these obligations are war crimes, murder, or both. There are no other options.”

The Joint Special Operations Command had said in briefing materials provided to the White House that the purpose of the “double-tap” strike was to sink the boat to avoid any navigation hazard to other vessels, according to one person who saw the report.

Lawmakers received a similar explanation in two closed-door briefings, according to two congressional aides.

“The idea that wreckage from one small boat in a vast ocean is a hazard to marine traffic is patently absurd, and killing survivors is blatantly illegal,” Representative Seth Moulton (D-Massachusetts) said in a statement to the Post.

The US military has carried out more than 20 strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, according to officials and internal data seen by the Post.

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